Street children are vulnerable to physical, social and health problems. In this cross-sectional survey, 304consenting children were interviewed in Ibadan Municipality. Information on history of health problems forwhich treatment was sought 3-months prior to the study and psychoactive substance use were obtained.Respondents’ weight and height were measured and compared with the National Centre for Health Statisticsstandard reference. The Z-scores for height-for-age, weight-for-height, weight-for-age and Body Mass Index(BMI)-for-age were computed. Respondents’ mean age was 15.2±1.4 years and 87.8% were males. About 14.8%reported always sleeping on the street, 17.1% did so most times, 27.6% occasionally and 40.5% never slept onthe street. Respondents mainly worked as bus-conductors (25.0%), hawkers (24.7%), scrap-pickers (18.8%), andporters (14.8%). Sixty percent of the respondents were stunted, 43.8% were underweight, and none was wasted.Majority (82.8%) had normal BMI-for-age. Few were moderately thin (7.5%), severely thin (7.8%), andoverweight (1.9%). Majority (74.7%) of the respondents had experienced at least one health problem includingphysical injuries (55.5%), high fever (35.5%), gastrointestinal symptoms (11.8%), and muscular cramps (3.6%).Overall, 62.0% of the children were currently using at least one psychoactive substance including palm wine(40.5%), local gin (27.6%), marijuana (26.0%) and cigarette (24.3%). The use of psychoactive substance wassignificantly related to frequency of sleeping on the streets. More of the respondents who frequently slept on thestreets (71.1%) experienced at least one health problem three months prior to the study for which treatment wassought compared with those who occasionally slept on the streets (67.9%) and those who never did so(52.8%)(p<0.05). Street children experience significant health problems especially stunting, underweight andphysical injuries. Those who sleep on the street are more vulnerable to psychoactive substance use. There is theneed to design interventions aimed at rehabilitating street children.
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