HEALTH SCENARIO OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN RURAL INDIA

Introduction: Effective learning among children at schools happens only if they are nutritionally and physically healthy. Nutritional intervention programme and school health services have been functioning in government and aided schools for quite some time but its benefits in betterment of nutritional and health status of the children needs periodic assessment.

Aims: To assess the nutritional and morbidity status of primary school children of a rural area.

Study Design: Cross sectional study.

Duration and Place of the Study: September 2015 in Ullal, India.

Methodology: Data was obtained from school health registers of three government and two aided schools.

Results: Mean age of the students was 8.4±2.0 years. Of the total 762 students, 21(2.8%) were stunted, 40(5.2%) were under weight and 71(9.3%) were thin. Stunting (p=0.038) and underweight (p=0.007) were found to significantly increase with age of the students. Both stunting (p=0.049) and underweight (p=0.009) were significantly more among girls compared to boys. A total of 382(50.1%) children were reported to have morbidities. The most common morbidities were dental caries 363(47.6%) followed by anaemia 71(9.3%) and respiratory tract infections 30(3.9%).

Conclusions: Few children with poor nutritional status were identified in this study. More than half of them suffered from various morbidities. Hence nutritional programmes and school health services need to be sustained with periodic evaluation for suggesting requisite improvements. Dental examination needs to be further strengthened to minimize dental problems among children.