The effect of the Mid-Day Meal programme on the longitudinal physical growth from childhood to adolescence in India.

Autor:	Gharge S; Department of Mathematical Demography and Statistics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India., Vlachopoulos D; Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom., Skinner AM; Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom., Williams CA; Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom., Iniesta RR; Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom., Unisa S; Department of Mathematical Demography and Statistics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	PLOS global public health [PLOS Glob Public Health] 2024 Jan 11; Vol. 4 (1), pp. e0002742. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jan 11 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pgph.0002742
Abstrakt:	The study aims to examine the effect of the world's largest school-feeding programme, the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) programme, on the changes in the underweight prevalence among school-children in India. Data from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) Rounds 1 (2004-05) and 2 (2011-12) were utilized. The sample included individual-level information of children aged 6 to 9 years in IHDS-1 who then turned 13 to 16 years in IHDS-2. The sample was categorised into four groups based on their MDM consumption history (Group 1: no MDM support in IHDS-1 and IHDS-2, Group 2: MDM support in IHDS-1, Group 3: MDM support in IHDS-2, Group 4: persistent MDM support in IHDS-1 and IHDS-2). The dependent variable was underweight status as defined by the World Health Organisation Child Growth Standards Body Mass Index for age (BMI Z-score) < -2 SD of the median. Bivariate analysis was used to examine the prevalence of underweight and establish associations between underweight status and socio-demographic characteristics. Logistic regression was performed to assess the strength of the association of socio-demographic characteristics and MDM consumption patterns with underweight across poor and non-poor asset groups. The findings suggest that early and persistent MDM support among respondents reduced the likelihood of low BMI Z-scores compared to those without MDM support. Respondents from the poor asset group who received MDM support in at least one of the two survey rounds had higher odds of being underweight in comparison with those who did not receive MDM support at all. Girls and adolescents residing in the Eastern region of India were less likely to be underweight. The study shows that the MDM programme was effective in reducing the rate of underweight among school children. However, continuous programme upscaling with a special focus on children from poor households will significantly benefit India's school-aged children. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. (Copyright: © 2024 Gharge et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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