Year: 2025 | Month: January-March | Volume: 10 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 97-104
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijshr.20250113
School Feeding Programme in Nigeria: The Nutritional Status of School-Age Children in Egbeda Local Government Area of Ibadan
Abimbola Saheed Moyosade1, Olufemi K. Fabusoro2, Sodunke Taiwo Ganiyat3
1College of Public Health, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
2College of Public Health, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
3Department of Public Health, College of Science and Health Technology, Iseyin, Nigeria.
Corresponding Author: Abimbola Saheed Moyosade
ABSTRACT
School Feeding Program (SFP) in Nigeria is expected to provide at least 33% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for school children. This study was carried out to ascertain whether the school meal provided meets this recommendation, and also to compare the nutritional status of the school age children benefitting from the SFP with their counterparts in other public primary schools in the LGA. This study employed the simple random technique to select 10 public primary schools in Egbeda LGA of Ibadan. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to evaluate the nutritional status of primary school pupils. Schools benefitting from the school feeding program were categorized as the experimental group while the schools not benefitting from the school feeding program were categorized as the control group. A 24-hour dietary recall was used to obtain data on all the foods consumed by the school-age children in the past 24 hours. The nutrient composition of the meals as analyzed using the Total Dietary Assessment (TDA) tool and compared with the requirements of their age group. The anthropometry indices of the school-age children were also obtained using a portable stadiometer and an electronic weighing scale. Analysis was done using the WHO Anthro software. The results revealed that 95% of the pupils did not meet 33% of their RDA for energy, protein, carbohydrate and total fat respectively. There was a significant difference in the level of nutrient adequacy between the two groups for energy, protein, thiamine, phosphorus and sodium. Also, the Anthropometry revealed more Normal weight children among the experimental group 141(71.6%) compared to the control group 56(28.6%).
Keywords: School feeding, Total Dietary Assessment, Anthropometry.