an observational study of the school health and nutrition programme in state schools in lusaka district, zambia

Background: school health and nutrition programmes improve the health and nutritional status of learners, yet theirimplementation status in zambia remains unknown. this study aimed to explore the implementation of school health andnutrition programme in one of the districts in zambia.methods: this was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in lusaka district, in 2015. the participating schools, includingonly state schools in lusaka district were selected using stratified sampling method. community and privately owned schoolswere not included. herein, 40 school health and nutrition programme coordinators completed a questionnaire based on theguidelines provided by the ministry of education. quantitative data were analysed via microsoft excel and stata. the dataobtained from open-ended questions were subjected to content analysis with prominent themes generated.results: a school health and nutrition programme was observed in 42.5% (n=17) of the schools, but with no significantdifferences (p=0.601) between the urban and peri-urban ones. due to insufficient funds and lack of supervision, only some ofthe recommended activities were implemented, such as school gardens, deworming, vitamin a and iron supplementation, andhealth education. the schools implementing school health and nutrition activities noted positive changes such as improvementin school attendance, pass rate, and a reduction in diarrhoea and bilharzia among their learners.conclusion: school health and nutrition programme was implemented by less than half of the schools, still only partially. theeffective implementation of the school health and nutrition programme is crucial to improve the health and nutritional status oflearners. this necessitates that the ministry of education consistently follow up on school health and nutrition implementation.