Nutritional Status of Pupils Attending Public Schools with and without School Feeding Programme in Hohoe Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

At-school lunch provision through the Ghana school-feeding programme (GSFP) is a child survival, health promotion and food security intervention implemented in selected schools in all 216 districts nationwide with the nutrition objective of reducing short-term hunger and malnutrition. The study assessed the impact of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) on the nutritional status of participants. School-based cross-sectional survey using multi-stage sampling to select 417 pupils aged 3-12 years enrolled in 14 public basic schools with (n=133) and without (n=304) school feeding programme in the seven sub-districts of the Hohoe municipality, Ghana. Data was collected between January-April 2015 through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire with assistance from teachers/guardians. Weight, height and mid upper-arm circumference were measured and used to generate underweight, stunting, thinness and obesity using WHO Antroplus and STATA 12.1. Mutually-adjusted simple and multinomial logistic regressions were done to determine association between the explanatory and dependent variables. Overall, 15.6% underweight, 9.8% stunting, 4.3% thinness and 5.5% overweight prevalence were observed. Between beneficiary and non-beneficiary pupils, there were no statistically significant differences in underweight (12.4% vs. 16.8%), stunting (13.3% vs. 8.6%), thinness (1.8% vs. 5.3%) and overweight (3.5% vs. 5.6%) respectively. Most of the explanatory variables including provision of schools meals were not significantly associated with the nutritional status indicators. Pupils in lower primary had increase odds for underweight (AOR; 3.0, 95% CI; 1.4-6.6, p=0.006) while those residing in rural areas were five folds more likely to be stunted (AOR; 5.3, 95%CI; 1.3-21.6, p=0.021). Prevalence of malnutrition was lower among beneficiaries but there were no statistical significant differences in anthropometry between schools with and without feeding programme. Findings suggest that the school feeding programme could marginally improve nutritional status of beneficiaries.

High burden of undernutrition among primary school-aged children and its determinant factors in Ethiopia; a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The third anthropometric indicators of undernutrition is wasting (thinness) which, in our study, had higher prevalence than the studies done in the western region of Nepal (12%) [44] and Burkina Faso (13.7%) [45]. In contrast, it is lower than a study from Ghana at 19.4% [46]. The possible explanation for these variations could be attributable to the difference in the parasitic infection, livelihood of the population Parasitic infection is one of the determinate factors for undernutrition as supporting by the studies conducted in different parts of the world [47,48].…”

Gaps in food security, food consumption and malnutrition in households residing along the baobab belt in Kenya

“…Comparing other areas in the baobab belt, the malnutrition prevalence in Kitui and Kilifi is higher than those reported among pupils in Hohoe municipality in Ghana, West Africa (Agbozo et al , 2017). There, the stunting rates lower than those reported in Kitui (46.8 per cent) and Kilifi (39.1 per cent) county as a whole.…”

Nutrient composition and dietary diversity of on-site lunch meals, and anthropometry of beneficiary children in private and public primary schools in Ghana

“…Even between school fed and non-school fed children, no significant differences have been found in the prevalence of malnutrition (Abizari et al, 2014; Agbozo et al, 2017). Our findings are in line with those of Danquah et al (2012), who observed 15% stunting, 12% underweight, 4% thinness and 4% obesity among school children who benefitted from the GSFP in the Ashanti region of Ghana.…”

“…Close to half (41.9%) were given money to buy food/ snack in school or sent food from home. Detailed background characteristics of the study participants have been described elsewhere (Agbozo et al, 2016(Agbozo et al, , 2017.…”