UNASSIGNED: The School Feeding Programme if properly executed has the capacity to improve the nutritional status of the school children.
UNASSIGNED: To assess the nutritional status of school children in Ondo State Nigeria given that the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) has been operational in the state for over five years.
UNASSIGNED: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 234 subjects from public schools and 227 subjects from private schools were enrolled in the study. Their mean age was 8.23 ± 1.92 years. Wasting, overweight, obesity, underweight, and stunting were noted in 19.4%, 11.4%, 0.4%, 5.0%, and 20.7% of the children, respectively. The prevalence of stunting (30.3%) and wasting (23.9%) was more among subjects from the public schools. A significant association was found between Weight-for-Age Z-score, Height-for-Age Z-score, and BMI-for-Age Z-score and the children\'s school type (p < 0.005).
UNASSIGNED: Majority of the children showed normal growth, the rest were in both extremes of malnutrition, the subjects from private schools seem to present better nutritional status, although there is no baseline data to ratify this finding. A further study on this subject using the current finding as a baseline data is recommended.

Ethiopia recently scaled up the implementation of a school feeding programme (SFP). Yet, evidence on the impact of such programmes on academic outcomes remains inconclusive. We evaluated the effect of the SFP on class absenteeism and academic performance of primary school students (grade 5-8) in Sidama zone, Southern Ethiopia.
This prospective cohort study enrolled SFP-beneficiary (n 240) and non-beneficiary (n 240) children 10-14 years of age from sixteen public schools and followed them for an academic year. School absenteeism was measured as the number of days children were absent from school in the year. Academic performance was defined based on the average academic score of the students for ten subjects they attended in the year. Data were analysed using multivariable mixed effects negative binomial and linear regression models.
Food insecure districts in Sidama zone, Southern Ethiopia.
SFP-beneficiary and non-beneficiary children 10-14 years of age.
The mean (sd) number of days children were absent from school was 4·0 (sd 1·5) and 9·3 (sd 6·0), among SFP beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, respectively. Students not covered by the SFP were two times more likely to miss classes (adjusted rate ratio = 2·30; 95 % CI 2·03, 2·61). Pertaining to academic performance, a significant but small 2·40 (95 % CI 0·69, 4·12) percentage point mean difference was observed in favour of SFP beneficiaries. Likewise, the risk of school dropout was six times higher among non-beneficiaries (adjusted rate ratio = 6·04; 95 % CI 1·61, 22·68).
SFP promotes multiple academic outcomes among socio-economically disadvantaged children.