An evaluation of the impact of a school nutrition programme in Vietnam.

摘要

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a school nutrition programme on the wt. gain and growth of Vietnamese schoolchildren. A proximate cluster evaluation of children in 7 schools was conducted, in which the effects of supplying children with fortified milk and biscuits providing 300 kcal of energy on school days were investigated, with children in 14 nearby schools acting as controls. Study participants were a cohort of 1080 children in grade 1. The programme gave children the equivalent of 90 kcal/day over 17 months. t-Tests showed a small but statistically significant difference between groups in their average gain in wt. and height: 3.19 vs 2.95 kg (P < 0.001) and 8.15 vs 7.88 cm (P = 0.008). A multiple-level model showed that the programme was statistically significant after controlling for clustering of children in schools, sex, age and initial underweight (P = 0.024). A significant impact on height was also seen in a regression model, but not when controlling for school. However, the most undernourished children tended to gain the least wt. There was no evidence of substitution.