Abstract

Childhood is the time when maximum growth in relations to size, intellectual, emotional and psychological improvement takes place. Nutrition is an important factor for healthiness and wellbeing. The current study objective was to evaluate the nutritional status of school going children i.e., prevalence of underweight, stunting, and thinness across four districts of Punjab (Okara, Bhawalnagar, Layyah and Rajanpur). This cross-sectional study was carried out from April to August 2016 on 399 school going children (48 female and 351 male) of ages between 9 and16 years. Age, height, and weight had been taken in years, centimeter and kilogram respectively. According to the results, 23.1%, 17.5%, and 28.1% children were found to be underweight, slimness (thinness) and stunting in population (Okara, Bhawalnagar, Layyah, and Rajanpur districts). Moreover, 22.2% male children was found underweight, 30.8% stunted, and 13.7% was thin. Regarding the female participants 29.2% were underweight, 8.3% stunted, and 45.8% thinness, indicating female children has more prevalence of underweight and thinness than male children but the prevalence of stunting is more in male participants than female. These results will be useful for policy makers while developing nutritional intervention programs.