Poor nutritional status of schoolchildren in urban and peri-urban areas of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Nutrition Journal

Research

Hélène F Delisle¹  Olivier Receveur¹  Charles Daboné² 

[1] TRANSNUT- Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, 2405 Chemin de la Côte Ste Catherine, H3T 1A8, Montreal, Qc, Canada;TRANSNUT- Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, 2405 Chemin de la Côte Ste Catherine, H3T 1A8, Montreal, Qc, Canada;Laboratoire National de Santé Publique, 09 BP 24, Ouagadougou 09, Burkina Faso;

关键词: Public School;    Private School;    Urban School;    Micronutrient Deficiency;    Iodine Deficiency Disorder;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2891-10-34

 received in 2010-12-14, accepted in 2011-04-19,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMalnutrition is still highly prevalent in developing countries. Schoolchildren may also be at high nutritional risk, not only under-five children. However, their nutritional status is poorly documented, particularly in urban areas. The paucity of information hinders the development of relevant nutrition programs for schoolchildren. The aim of this study carried out in Ouagadougou was to assess the nutritional status of schoolchildren attending public and private schools.MethodsThe study was carried out to provide baseline data for the implementation and evaluation of the Nutrition Friendly School Initiative of WHO. Six intervention schools and six matched control schools were selected and a sample of 649 schoolchildren (48% boys) aged 7-14 years old from 8 public and 4 private schools were studied. Anthropometric and haemoglobin measurements, along with thyroid palpation, were performed. Serum retinol was measured in a random sub-sample of children (N = 173). WHO criteria were used to assess nutritional status. Chi square and independent t-test were used for proportions and mean comparisons between groups.ResultsMean age of the children (48% boys) was 11.5 ± 1.2 years. Micronutrient malnutrition was highly prevalent, with 38.7% low serum retinol and 40.4% anaemia. The prevalence of stunting was 8.8% and that of thinness, 13.7%. The prevalence of anaemia (p = 0.001) and vitamin A deficiency (p < 0.001) was significantly higher in public than private schools. Goitre was not detected. Overweight/obesity was low (2.3%) and affected significantly more children in private schools (p = 0.009) and younger children (7-9 y) (p < 0.05). Thinness and stunting were significantly higher in peri-urban compared to urban schools (p < 0.05 and p = 0.004 respectively). Almost 15% of the children presented at least two nutritional deficiencies.ConclusionThis study shows that malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are also widely prevalent in schoolchildren in cities, and it underlines the need for nutrition interventions to target them.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Daboné et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.