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school staff, families, and community members," said Carmen
Aldinger, research associate at EDC, who heads the nutrition project
for HHD.
"Because there is evidence that change is more
likely to occur when a community takes a cohesive approach to a
problem, the nutrition interventions target students, families,
and teachers." About 7,500 students and their families and
800 teachers and school staff are participating in the project.
A national survey conducted in the early 1990s found that nutrient
intake was inadequate in Chinese children and adolescents, particularly
in rural areas. While energy intake was in line with the RDA (Recommended
Dietary Allowance), protein intake was 88 percent of the RDA and
calcium intake was only 38 percent. The rate of iron deficiency
in primary school students was more than 13 percent. In Hangzhou,
one of two southeast Chinese cities involved in the nutrition project,
the prevalence of malnutrition was recently found to be 22.5 percent
while the percentage of overweight students was nearly 25 percent.
Talks with parents during the evaluation revealed that it was not
a lack of availability of foods that was a problem, but a lack of
knowledge about proper nutrition. For example, some parents said
that before the nutrition project, they thought that eating foods
high in protein and calories, particularly meat and fish, was preferable
to consuming vegetables, even though some grew their own. And many
didn't give their children breakfast in the morning, in part because
schools start very early. Research has shown that children may have
trouble concentrating in the morning due to hunger.
In addition to Hangzhou, the project is also being conducted in
the southeastern city of Wenzhou. Locally, the project is led by
a provincial working group from the Health Education Institute in
collaboration with the provincial Bureau of Education.
During a week of meetings in late April 2001, the project's six
pilot schools presented their progress to EDC, WHO, and FAO. "The
pilot schools showed great ingenuity in their efforts to getnutritional
messages across to students and families," said Aldinger. For
example, students at Washi Primary School in Wenzhou presented songs
and skits about healthy nutrition they had written with their teachers.
And students at Wenzhou Experimental Middle School designed Web
pages with nutritional themes and did a survey about the impact
of a garbage collection station next to their school.
Jiubao Middle School in Hangzhou invited parents to attend classes
and have a nutritious lunch with students. And at Sijiqing Primary
School, students made up nutritious recipes and illustrated them.
Jiubao Primary School and Chao Yang Middle School in Hangzhou did
outreach to the community and literally hit the streets to share
messages with people, one on one, about healthy nutrition.
Students themselves reported changes in both their attitudes and
habits. One student said that while sweet and sour pork remained
his favorite food, he was eating a more varied diet after learning
about nutrition in school.
A final evaluation is planned for April 2002. A follow-up survey
to the baseline survey, conducted in May 2000, will be administered
in November 2001 among a sample of students, teachers, and parents
of the participating pilot and control schools. If the project is
found to be effective in changing both attitudes and behavior about
nutrition, the experiences and materials will be shared with other
schools in China and around the world. |
