Prevalance of malnutrition among students aged 15 - 17 years old of Ba Na, Gia Rai and Kinh ethnic groups in some high schools in Gia Lai province, in 2022

Abstract

 Nutritional in ethnic children are always an issue that needs attention from the health sector. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2022 on 3,468 students aged 15 - 17 from nine high schools in Gia Lai province, to examine the nutritional status by ethnicity, gender, urban and rural areas. The results showed that the prevalence of stunting and wasting were 14.4% and 8.6%, at medium level of public health problems. The stunting of Ba Na ethnic group students was highest at 30.5%, Gia Rai ethnic group was 17.4%, and Kinh is 10.0%. The prevalence of stunting in urban areas (11.5%) was statistically significantly higher
than in rural areas (14.7%). The prevalence of stunting and wasting in boy students were (11.0% and 13.2%) different from those in female students (16.2% and 6.0%), respectively, with p < 0.001. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 7.3%, of which urban areas (11.4%) were higher than rural areas (5.2%). Therefore, nutritional interventions in Gia Lai require to prioritize implementation in the Ba Na and Gia Rai ethnic groups to attributed to improving the stature of school children in the Central Highlands province.