A Community-Based School Nutrition Intervention Improves Diet Diversity and School Attendance in Palestinian Refugee Schoolchildren in Lebanon. Issue 11 (24th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jamaluddine, Zeina; Choufani, Jowel; Masterson, Amelia Reese; Hoteit, Reem; Sahyoun, Nadine R; Ghattas, Hala
• Is Part Of: Current developments in nutrition. Volume 4:Issue 11(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11-24
• Subjects: nutrition intervention -- school feeding program -- double burden of malnutrition -- diet diversity -- food security; Nutrition -- Periodicals; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Nutrition; Periodicals; Periodicals; Fulltext; Internet Resources; Periodicals; 612.3
• DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzaa164
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2475-2991

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Background: School feeding programs have the potential to supply children with healthy school food, alleviate short-term hunger, and improve children's educational outcomes. Objectives: We linked community kitchens to a subsidized school snack intervention and assessed the impact of this intervention on nutritional (diet diversity, hemoglobin, and anthropometry) and educational (attendance and academic performance) outcomes of Palestinian refugee schoolchildren. Methods: We collected data from 1362 students (aged 5–15 y) and their parents at baseline, and at an 8-mo follow-up in 2 control and 2 intervention schools. We conducted linear, logistic, and negative binomial regression analyses to assess changes in outcomes of children participating in the intervention schools compared with children in control schools (intention-to-treat). We also assessed the impact of the snack intervention in children who participated ≥50% of the time (HP, high-participation) compared with those who participated <50% (LP, low-participation), or who only received nutrition education (control) (per protocol). All the analyses were adjusted for child age and gender, maternal education, household expenditure, and school-level clustering effect. Results: At endline, there were 648 children in the control group, and within the intervention group, 260 children were LP and 454 were HP. There was a significantly greater increase in overall diet diversity score and dairy consumption in the HP group compared with controls. Both LP and HP groups were more likely to consume proteins, and less likely to consume desserts than controls. Furthermore, the HP group had a significant increase in hemoglobin, and both LP and HP groups had a significant decrease in school absenteeism compared with controls. Conclusions: This community-based school nutrition intervention had a positive impact on diet diversity, hemoglobin, and school attendance of children. Abstract : The "Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children" home-grown school feeding model was associated with a modest but significant improvement in diet diversity and school attendance of Palestinian refugee schoolchildren.