NUTRITION, ANEMIA, GEOHELMINTH INFECTION AND SCHOOL-ACHIEVEMENT IN RURAL JAMAICAN PRIMARY-SCHOOL CHILDREN

Objective: To determine whether nutritional status, anaemia and geohel minth infections were related to school achievement and attendance in Jamaican children. Design: A cross-sectional study using a randomly se lected sample. Subjects: Eight hundred children aged 9-13 y randomly s elected from those enrolled in grade 5 in 16 primary schools in rural Jamaica. Results: The mean height-for-age of the children was -0.37 z- score +/- 1.0 s.d. with 4.9% having heights-for-age ( -2 s.d. of the N CHS references. Anaemia (Hb < 11 g/dl) was present in 14.7% of the chi ldren, 38.3% were infected with Trichuris trichiura and 19.4% with Asc aris lumbricoides. Achievement levels on the Wide Range Achievement Te st were low, with children performing at grade 3 level. In multilevel analyses, controlling for socioeconomic status, children with Trichuri s infections had lower achievement levels than uninfected children in spelling, reading and arithmetic (P < 0.05). Children with Ascaris inf ections had lower scores in spelling and reading (P < 0.05) Height-for -age (P < 0.01) was positively associated with performance in arithmet ic. Ascaris infection (P < 0.001) and anaemia (P < 0.01) predicted poo rer school attendance. Conclusion: Despite mild levels, undernutrition and geohelminth infections were associated with achievement, suggesti ng that efforts to increase school achievement levels in developing co untries should include strategies to improve the health and nutritiona l status of children.