Nutritional Status and Morbidity among School Going Children: A Scenario from Rural India

School health has been regarded as a high priority intervention in developing countries. However it has not been prioritized in India for many years. Malnutrition is one of a major public health concern affecting a significant number of school children influencing their health, growth and development and school academic performance. The objective of this study was to find out the nutritional status and morbidity pattern in school going children. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted using a structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurements to assess underweight, stunting and thinness for 561 children at 5 to 18 years age, including 285 boys and 276 girls at Dhaura Tanda, Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh. The prevalence of malnutrition was calculated using World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro Plus software. This study shows that prevalence of under-nutrition in both male and female was 44.56 and 37.32% respectively. The prevalence of chronic malnutrition (stunting) in male was 26.31% and in females was 21.37%. The prevalence of acute malnutrition in both males and females according to the BMI-for-age was 38.24% and 34.05% respectively. The most common morbidities were upper respiratory tract infection 240 (42.78%), diarrhea 81 (14.44%), carbuncle/furancle 78 (13.90%) and scabies 63 (11.23%).Malnutrition in the form of underweight, stunting and thinning were 41.00%, 23.28% and 36.18% respectively among school going children. URTI & Diarrhea were the most common morbidity.