Nutrition and Attendance for Primary School Students in Ethiopia and Zambia

Introduction: Nutrition impacts attendance for primary school students in Southern Ethiopia and Zambia. Food insecurity causes school-age children to be undernourished, malnourished, and stunted. These health concerns greatly impact ability to attend and perform in school. Methods: Between May and June of 2019 6th and 7th grade students were surveyed within 4 schools in Ethiopia and 5 schools in Zambia. Anthropometric data, health history, and nutritional habits were surveyed. Results: 8% of Ethiopian students were stunted while 10% of Zambian students were stunted. Ethiopian students indicated school lunch was an incentive while Zambian students did not. Most Ethiopian students ate before school while Zambian students did not. Overall, undernutrition of Zambian students implies greater struggle academically. Conclusion: Continued research on the impacts of poor nutrition for students must be conducted. School-age children are not often the center of food insecurity research and are included as a statistic rather than a source of information