Nutrition in Schools

Elizabeth and I went to the local nursery school to do a follow-up nutrition screening of children under the age of five. When I first arrived in village, I checked children for signs of malnutrition, gather information on weight, arm circumference, and anemia. 

During that initial survey I found that a decent number of children were below their proper weight for age, many had low arm circumference, many were anemic, and many students reported low levels of protein, fruit, and vegetable intake. I then conducted nutrition lessons in the schools and within the community, educating 221 elementary school students and an additional 268 community members. I taught participants about balanced diets, proportion sizes, specific vitamins and minerals, and reviewed healthy meals made out of locally available foods. 

By doing this year’s screening, we were hoping to discover if that education made any difference. I’m happy to report that the children’s health has improved. Whether its due to our efforts and lessons is hard to say, but at least there has been a vast improvement in healthy weight and dramatically less cases of anemia. We still find that children are not eating enough fruit, so we plan to do further cooking demonstrations and are going to try to get the nursery school to start a snack program where they will provide fruit to students.