IMPACT OF DEWORMING ON THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KATAMPE VILLAGE OF ABUJA, NIGERIA

IMPACT OF DEWORMING ON THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KATAMPE VILLAGE OF ABUJA, NIGERIA

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Intestinal parasitic infestations are widely prevalent in many developing countries including Nigeria. Most of the populations chronically affected with intestinal parasites live in the developing countries. Intestinal parasites are particularly important in children as they cause or aggravate malnutrition including, iron-deficiency anaemia. The infestations are also commoner among people who are already disadvantaged socio-economically, and face a slow pace of growth. In spite of their considerable morbidity, the infestations are often ignored. Inadequate information exists in our environment on the effect of intestinal parasitic infestation on health status of school children in rural settings especially on their nutritional status and also the positive effect of deworming on their health status.
OBJECTIVE: The study aimed at assessing the impact of deworming on the nutritional status of school children in Katampe village using their anthropometric parameters and heamoglobin concentration.
METHODOLOGY: This was a school-based intervention study, using intervention and control group design. A multistage sampling method was used in this study. The school was selected from the list of schools in the various districts of Bwari Area Council. Pupils were allocated into intervention and control groups by balloting. At baseline, the anthropometric measurements, haemoglobin concentration and intestinal parasitic status of the children in both groups were assessed. Intervention with 500mg mebendazole was instituted at baseline and 3 months later. Post-intervention reassessment was done 6 months after baseline.
RESULTS: A total of two hundred and eighteen (218) pupils were recruited in this study (109- intervention group and 109 – control group), all of which completed the study. The
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mean age of pupils in the intervention and control groups were 9.2 years ± 2.6 and 9.4 years ± 2.9, respectively.
The prevalence of major intestinal parasites found in the studied population were 31.2% for Ascaris lumbricoides, 15.1% for Hookworm species, 23.9% for Trichuris trichiura and 3.7% for other infestations. The prevalence of underweight (WAZ ≤ 2) in the intervention and control groups at baseline were 29.4% and 31.2% respectively. There was reduction in the prevalence of underweight in the intervention group (from 29.4% to 16.5%) as compared to the control (from 31.2% to 28.4%) 6 months after intervention. This difference was found to be statistically significant (χ2 = 4.45, df = 1, P = 0.035). Although small increases in the mean height (0.3cm) and mean weight (0.7kg) were achieved in the intervention group over the control , they were not found to be statistically significant (t = 0.51, P = 0.606 and t = 0.65, P = 0.517, respectively).
The intervention brought about an increase in the mean heamoglobin concentration in the intervention group which resulted in the reduction of anaemia prevalence from 45.9% to 35.1% as against 48.5% to 50.5% in the control group. The difference was found to be statistically significant (χ2= 7.57, df = 1, P = 0.006).
CONLUSION: Deworming had a beneficial effect on the reduction in the prevalence of intestinal parasites, improvement in the nutritional status and reduction in the prevalence of anemia in school children. Hence, school-based deworming intervention should be adopted by our educational sector and health sector as an important component of school health programme.

IMPACT OF DEWORMING ON THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KATAMPE VILLAGE OF ABUJA, NIGERIA