Florence O Adeyemo
The increasing prevalence of poor diet and diseases need to be considered amongst school children. Malnutrition is still highly prevalent in developing countries. School children may also be at high nutritional risk, not only under-five children. The objective of the present study was to determine relationship between type of nutrition and pupils’ level of diseases in both public and private schools in Ogbomoso, Nigeria.
The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The sample selected for this study is five hundred and eightytwo (582) school children (282 from public schools and 300 from private schools). Self- developed questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.
Result shows respondents in public schools eat 96.6% of energy giving foods, 1.7% of body building foods and 1.7% of protective foods while those in the private schools take 83.5% of energy giving foods, 9.3% of body building foods and 7.2% of protective foods. It was also observed that the average weight for all the respondents was 25.72 kg and average height was 124.52 cm which contradicts the assumption of the Food and Nutrition board of USA, thus signifying the prevalence of under nutrition and stunted growth. The study revealed that 82.6% of the respondents in the public schools were healthy while 17.4% had various types of ailments, also 90% of the respondents in private schools were healthy and 10% had various types of ailment. Common ailments found among respondents from both public and private schools that feeds mostly on energy giving foods were skin infection (3.6%), wound (7.1%), Chest infections (2.2%), eye problem (1.7%), Ringworm (2.2%). The nutrient intake of majority of the respondents from both public and private schools were considerably lower than the recommended daily intake.
