ABSTRACT

 Under nutrition continues to be a primary cause ofmorbidity and mortality among children in developing countries. School age children are among the most commonly affected groups by chronic under nutrition. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of under nutrition among school age children in Obowo Local Government Area. A crosssectional study design and a simple random sampling technique were used to select 316 children. A questionnaire was used to collect information on the socio-economic characteristics and feeding pattern of the children. Weight, height and mid upper arm circumference measurements were also taken and were used to calculate the Z-scores (height-for-age, weight-for-age and BMI-for-age) of the children using WHO plus software. Statistical Package for Service Solutions (SPSS-version 20) computer programme was used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) were applied to the socio- economic characteristics, feeding pattern and anthropometric status data. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on nutritional status while significance was accepted at p<0.05. The results show that many (60.1%) ofthe children were females while some (39.9%) of them were males. More than half(57.6%) ofthe mothers earned a monthly income between N21, 000 - N30, 000. Some (30.7%) ofthe children fed 3 times in a day while few (12.7%) fed once in a day. The prevalence ofmeal skipping observed in this study was 34.8%. The males had higher mean height (119.7±19.5) and MUAC (T3.8-t0.78) than the females (118.1±22.2) and (13.7^0.80) respectively but showed a lower weight (24.Lt5.40) when compared with their female counter-part (25.1±5.10). The age of the child and monthly income ofthe mothers ofthe children had a significant effect on the nutritional status of the children while sex ofthe child and educational level ofthe mothers had no significant effect on the nutritional status of the children. Since all children deserve good care^ nutrition and health that encourage their social, emotional, physical and intellectual growth, there is the urgent need for an enabling environment through well-articulated policies, projects, and programs /interventions to ensure wholesome development of Nigerian children and to enhance their quality oflife.