Overweight and obesity among public and private primary school children in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

<p> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Obesity is on the rise in developing countries, especially in urban areas. In this study, a cross-sectional study was conducted in two divisions in Nairobi province to determine the prevalence of and some risk factors associated with overweight and obesity among school children in Nairobi, Kenya. It involved 344 school children aged 9-14 years drawn from four randomly selected public and private primary schools. Weight and height were measured and body mass index was calculated. Nutrition status was determined using the World Health Organization age and gender specific BMI-for-age Z-scores (BAZ). The chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between overweight/obesity and selected socio-demographic characteristics. Complete anthropometric measurements were available for 321 children. Prevalence of combined overweight and obesity (BAZ > +1SD) was 19.0%, with prevalence being higher among girls (21.0%) than boys (16.9%) (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">p</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> = 0.632). The prevalence among children in private schools was significantly higher (29.0%) than among those in public schools (11.5%) (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">p</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> = 0.000). In addition, being a single child (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">p</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> = 0.020), birth order (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">p</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> = 0.017), mother’s occupation (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">p</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> = 0.023) and type of residence (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">p</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> = 0.028) were positively associated with overweight/obesity. The prevalence of overweight/obesity determined in this study is high and is a public health concern, with girls particularly at risk of becoming overweight.</span></span> </p

Overweight and obesity and lifestyle of urban adolescent school children of eastern state of India

“…Our finding is consistent with many Indian studies besides WHO. 14,16,23,24 We found that 10 (14.55) obese children had family history of overweight/obesity compared to that of nonobese children 36(7.3%) which was found significant. (Chi square value 4.1145, p=0.0425, p<.05) From a metaanalysis by Kanciruk M it was found that children with a family history of obesity were at an elevated risk for overweight and obesity compared with children who did not have a family history of obesity.…”

“…12 Prevalence of overweight and obesity were more among females with 17.74% and 6.45% compared males (4.55% and 1.44%) and sex was significantly associated with overweight and obesity unlike ours. 14 In the present study students of private school were found more overweight (42, 14%) and obese (16,5.33%) than that of their counterparts of government school {8(3.1%) and 3 (1.2%) respectively and this difference was significant (Chi-square: 57.8721, p<0.00001). Majority of the students of private schools belong to upper middle and upper socioeconomic group as pursuing study in these schools involves more investment besides scholastic performance of the students.…”

“…Similar findings were reported from Bhubaneswar and Chennai. [16][17][18] Among lifestyle behaviours unhealthy diet and physical inactivity are primary risk factors. These risk behaviours among overweight and obese children were compared with non-obese children.…”

Nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices among urban primary school children in Nairobi City, Kenya: a KAP study

“…From the focus group discussions, sweet taste was highlighted as among the main reasons for consumption of soft drinks and fast foods. Children in Nairobi have easy access to numerous fast food outlets [17]. Children also reported that some of the sweet snacks such as juices, biscuits, cakes chocolate were hardly bought at home by the parents and therefore once given money for lunch they preferred buying such.…”

“…A large proportion of televised food advertisements are of highly processed foods/convenient foods with, high caloric content, large amounts of fat and sugar, and with little or no micronutrient content [14]. In addition, children in urban centres such as Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya have easy access to numerous fast food outlets, restaurants and supermarkets, and they are left to make decisions on what to eat [17]. Therefore, to be able to overcome the emerging issue of obesity and overweight among children and related health risks, school children have to be empowered to make the right food choices by providing them with nutrition knowledge and changing their attitudes towards healthy eating.…”