NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND DIETARY DIVERSITY OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF KAMAL RURAL MUNICIPALITY, JHAPA

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the disparities in nutritional status and dietary diversity of primary school children among private and public school in Kamal rural municipality. A cross-sectional study was done in 190 students (95 from each type of school) with a structured questionnaire. Weight and height were taken and the indicators for nutritional status were underweight, stunting, thinness and obesity. The data entry and data analysis were performed with Microsoft package 21 (Excel and Word) and SPSS Statistics version 20. A Chi-square and fisher’s exact test were used to find the association between variables. The study resulted that more students in public school (24.30%) were underweight as compared to that of private school (14.80%). Greater number of students from public school (14.70%) were stunted than that of private school (10.50%). The thinness was also more common among public school students (16.90%). But the prevalence of overweight was found only in private school (17.9%). The mean dietary diversity score of students in public school was found to be 3.66 ± 1.017 whereas private school students was found to be 4.08 ± 0.996. Several factors were reported to have an association with underweight among private and public school’s students such as parent’s education level, maternal occupation, frequency of fruit consumption, birth weight of child and so on. Likewise, gender of students was found associated with stunting in public school. Consumption of carbonated beverages, source of drinking water, number of meals in a day and so on were found associated with thinness/overweight in private school and caste/ethnicity, birth order, presence of kitchen garden and so on were found associated with thinness in public school.