Gender Based Comparison of Nutrition Status among Primary School Children in Selected Urban and Rural Areas in Ondo State, Nigeria

In today’s Nigeria, widespread and severe poverty is a reality that depicts a lack of food, clothes, education and other basic amenities and basically affects women and children. This study compared and contrasts gender-based nutritional status in primary school children of selected rural and urban settlements in Ondo State, South-West Nigeria. Using the Multi-staged sampling technique, two hundred and forty (240) primary school students of between the ages of 5 and 10 years were ethically recruited from aforementioned area. Socio-demographic data was collected by way of interview, using a research administered questionnaire that contained both open and closed ended questions. Secondary information was also sourced from the ministry of health, internet, published research papers, journals and other relevant sources. Here, dependent variables consisted of the nutritional status of children in study area(s) that were measured through various nutrition indicators as; height-for-age, weight-for-height, weight-for-age. These indicators were measured through anthropometric techniques, as well as gender specific variations in target variables. Results were sorted, analysed and presented in percentage (using the statistical package for social sciences, SPSS) were used for quantitative data integration on socio-economic and demographics. From the result, most (60.0%) of the respondents’ parents in the urban are within the age range of 31-40 years while most (44.0%) in the rural were within the age range of 21-30 years. In all, none of the urban parents were within the age range of 15-20 years while 10.0% of the rural parents were within the age range of 15-21 years. The mean age of urban parents was 34 years while the mean age of rural parents was 31 years. It can be deduced from the results that rural parents involved were higher than their urban counterparts. Mean consumption pattern of carbohydrates by urban respondents was higher than that of the rural counterparts, lower for proteins consumption pattern as well as in vitamins, even though nutritional status proved otherwise for urban against rural children. Nutritional enlightenment programmes is recommended for parents of rural settled children in order keep abreast of the importance of healthy eating. Further study aimed at corroborating these findings should also be carried out.