Effects of school lunch feeding programmes on nutritional status and attendance of primary school Children in Emuhaya division, Vihiga district, Kenya

Abstract

The school-feeding programme was launched in Kenya in 1966. The aim was to improve nutritional status, school enrolment" attendance, and academic achievement. Little monitoring and evaluation of this programme has been done to assess it's effectiveness. Some studies carried out in other parts of the world show that schoolfeeding programmes have an effect on the nutritional status, school enrolment and academic achievement of school children. However, there has been no evaluation in Emuhaya Division. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of schoolfeeding programme in improving the nutritional status and school attendance levels of primary school children in Emuhaya Division of Vihiga District, Kenya. It was conducted between January and April 2003 with the following objectives: to investigate and study the effects of School Lunch Feeding Programmes on nutritional status and school attendance levels of participants and non-participants respectively, and to assess their food and nutrient intake. The diet quality of the school lunch was also assessed. Using a cross sectional research design, the study involved 320 pupils. Interview schedules, 24-hour diet recall and anthropometry were the instruments used in data collection. Using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software version 10, frequencies, means, correlations and multiple regression were all employed in the data analysis. Epi Info version 6 was used to analyze anthropometric data. Food composition ~ab'eswere used to compute the nutrient intake. of index children. From the results, the demographic characteristics of households were not very different between the two groups. However, the non-participants tended to come from households of low socioeconomic index compared to participants. The prevalence of malnutrition as determined xi by weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height as well as absenteeism rate weresignificantly higher (psO.05)among the non-participants than the participants. The nutritional status of girls was generally better than that of the boys. The school lunch providedmore calories and proteins to participating children than that provided by the homelunch to non-participants. There was a positive association between the school lunch, attendance and nutritional status. Thus, the nutritional status and attendance levelsof participants were better than that of the non-participants.School Lunch Feeding Programmesin Emuhaya Division have a positive effect on both nutritional status and attendancelevels of participating children. The programmes should therefore continue but with modifications to improve the nutritional quality since there is an acute food shortage in the study area, which is likely to affect the nutritional status of school childrennegatively. More schools and parents should be encouraged to venture into the SchoolLunch Feeding Programme because of it's positive outcome.