Assessment of Nutritional Status and Other Factors Correlates with Academic Performance of Lower Primary School Children from Mekelle, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The need to assess the nutritional status of the children who started school is increasing since it has a great effect for their health; and great achievements in their educational career. The overall objective of the research study was to assess the role of nutritional status on the educational performance of lower primary school children from Mekelle, northern Ethiopia. It was conducted from September to May 2015/16. In this study the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight of school children were 36%, 50.5% and 58.7% respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that husband educational status (no formal educational) [AOR =4.07, CI: 1.33–12.47], time to reach school [AOR=2.31, CI: 1.35–3.93], without eating breakfast [AOR=1.88, CI: 1.01–3.48], stunting [AOR=5.27, CI: 3.01–9.24], wasting [AOR=1.57, CI: 1.33–1.98] and conduct of the child [AOR=2.35, CI: 1.26–4.38] were significantly associated with school performance of lower primary school children. The prevalence of malnutrition in the study area was higher than the national level. Nutritional status of the children and predictors had a significant influence on the educational performance of school children. Provision of school meals or initiation of school feeding programs is recommended.
Keywords: Mekelle, nutritional status, academic performance

Cite this Article
Saba Zeru, Afework Mulugeta, Teklit Gebretsadik. Assessment of Nutritional Status and Other Factors Correlates with Academic Performance of Lower Primary School Children from Mekelle, Northern Ethiopia. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Computational Biology. 2017; 6(2): 1–11p.