Body Mass Index of School Pupils in Nigeria

Ahmad abubakar; bello arkilla magaji; zahraddeen garba habib; usman musa umar; anas ibrahim yakubu; abdulaziz muhammad danmadami; harrison sunday akogwu; hudu garba illo; abusufyan attahiru

doi:10.5455/JPHCM.20241202094701

Abstract
Almajiri pupils are mostly male children and adolescents who leave home to live with their Mallam for Islamic education. They lack basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. This situation makes them vulnerable to hunger and have to beg for sustenance. Aim: To compare the Body Mass Index (BMI) of the traditional Almajiri education system (Tsangaya) and Almajiri Integrated Model School (AIMS) pupils in northwest Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study done in 2019 involving ninety-six pupils from each of Tsangaya and AIMS in Sokoto metropolis using a multistage sampling technique. The socio-demographic variables and BMI of the participant were obtained and analyzed using IBM SPSS V 21.0 for Windows. A test of association between the variables was done using the chi-square test; a p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Among the 192 pupils studied, three-quarters [143 (74.5%)] were underweight, with more than half [74 (51.7%)] from the AIMS. Age-wise, three-quarters (75.5%) of pupils between 10 and 14 years old were underweight. Likewise, all those between the ages of 7 and 9 years were underweight as they were leaving home (p = 0.001).
Conclusion: The study revealed that most Almajiri pupils were underweight. Those in AIMS were more likely to be underweight despite receiving three meals per day. This suggests a problem in either the food quality, quantity, or both in these schools. Paradoxically, most of the Tsangaya pupils who begged for sustenance were able to maintain normal weight. All the younger age categories in both groups were underweight, highlighting the level of poverty and inadequate nutrition faced by these children even before leaving home.

Key words: Body Mass Index, School Pupils, Almajiri Integrated Model School.