Nutritional status of children attending basic schools providing mid-day meal a comparative study

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the nutritional status of schoolchildren attending basic schools (from pre-primary up to grade 8) in rural and urban municipalities of Nepal. Also, it compares nutrition status between children who do get school-provided midday meals (MDM) and those who do not. Design: Cross-sectional, analytical type study. Setting and Participants: It was conducted in Government basic schools located in both rural and urban municipalities of Nepal. In total there were 276 students of both sexes. Multistage sampling was used; first, municipalities and schools were chosen through a lottery style method. Then students were selected using simple random sampling, based on a random number table. Methods: Anthropometric measurements were taken. For children aged 3–8 years, mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) was measured, while body mass index (BMI) was used for children above 8 years. Besides, a structured questionnaire was applied to capture dietary habits and household related factors, like parental education and whether the child received MDM. Results: The mean age of participants was 7.76 ± 3.229 years, and about 50.4% were male. For the MUAC group (3–8 years), mean MUAC was 14.84 ± 1.35 cm. For the BMI group (>8 years), mean BMI was 14.98 ± 2.50 kg/m². Severe acute malnutrition showed up in 4.3% of children aged 3–5 years. Nutritional status was significantly linked with age (p=0.007) and sex p=0.008 as well. Parental education, meaning both parents, was also significantly associated with child nutritional status (p=0.001). Children not receiving MDM at school had significantly higher vulnerability to malnutrition (p=0.015). Overall, MDM was seen as a significant protective factor against malnutrition, with AOR =0.364, 95% CI: 0.139–0.953. Further, children without school-provided MDM had 1.913 times higher likelihood of malnutrition compared with those receiving MDM (95% CI: 0.867–4.22, p=0.002). Conclusion: In conclusion, malnutrition among Nepali schoolchildren appears to be clearly linked to things like parental education, the intake of energy-dense nutrient-poor EDNP foods, and whether schools actually provide midday meals. It s kind of like these factors move together, and when they do, the nutritional situation tends to worsen. So, by reinforcing and improving MDM programs, it may help lower childhood malnutrition in both rural and urban school contexts.