Background: Childhood malnutrition is still a public health concern
affecting both children and adolescents in Ghana. However, school-age
children are not always included in national surveys. This study explored the
prevalence of malnutrition among school-age children in the Nkwanta South
District, of the Volta Region, Ghana.
Methods: The study was cross-sectional in design involving school-age
children aged 10-19 years in public basic schools in the district. A multistage
sampling technique was used to select 650 respondents from schools on
feeding programme and schools not on feeding programme. An
anthropometric measurement of weight and height was measured by standard
methods. Prevalence of overweight, thinness, and stunting was determined
by WHO Z-scores criteria and cut offs points for school-age children.EpiInfo
version 7 and Stata version 11 were used to enter and analyze data.
Results: Three hundred and forty-seven (53.4%) of the sampled
students/respondents were females. Respondents had a mean age of 13.4
years. Prevalence of overweight was 6.9%, stunting 50.3% and thinness
19.4%. Prevalence of stunting and thinness was higher among children in
schools on feeding programme, while overweight was higher among children
in schools not on feeding programme. Area of residence, community type,
taboos/beliefs, sex, age, type of school, feeding programme, and some subdistricts
were found to be associated with overweight, stunting and thinness.
Conclusions: malnutrition rates in this study are higher than national
averages for children under five years of age. Interventions such as public
awareness and education on child and adolescent nutrition in the district,
inclusion of adolescent nutrition in national surveys are recommended.