MALNUTRITION AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN an‎d ITS ASSOCIATION WITH LITERACY OF MOTHERS

Background and Objective: In low income countries like Pakistan the prevalence of malnutrition is quite high and this physical condition of children is associated with the educational status of their mothers. This study was conducted to find out the frequency of malnutrition among school children of 5 – 8 years of age, and its relationship with the literacy status and occupation of their mothers. Methods: A Cross – sectional study was carried out in Public sector schools of Wah Cantt from Sep. 2013 to Feb. 2014. Four hundred and ten school children of 5 – 8 years of age were included in the study by simple random sampling technique. The height and weight was measured and frequency of overweight, underweight, stunting, muscle wasting and status of mothers education were determined. Results were summed and statistically analyzed using SPSS 19. Chi-Square test was applied to find out the significance of association between mother s education and malnutrition of their children. Results: Out of 410 children there were 149 (36.3%) boys and 261 (63.7%) girls. The mean age was 75.01 ± 6.5 months. Frequency of malnutrition was 59.5%, 53.4%, 40.3% and 43.7% in children with mother s education up to Primary, Matric/Intermediate, Graduate and Post-graduate respectively. A significant inverse relationship was found between mother s education and frequency of underweight and stunting among children (p-value 0.003 and 0.042). Conclusion: Frequency of malnutrition was inversely related to mother s education. Educational status of mothers is a good judge of nutritional status of their children. It means that our children will be in good health if we raise the literacy level of our females.