Abstract:
Childhood obesity is one of the serious public health challenges of the 21st century owing to
its higher prevalence and the complications that are associated with it. Urban cities in Ghana
have experienced a gradual increase in the rate of prevalence in childhood obesity and
overweight. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of overweight and obesity
among basic school pupils in Effutu Municipality. A cross-sectional study was conducted in
Effutu Municipality. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 333 basic
school pupils from primary four to primary six. Pre-tested questionnaires and anthropometric
data gathering methods were used in data collection. Data were analysed using both inferential
and descriptive statistics. The overall combined prevalence of overweight and obesity
among the basic pupils in Effutu Municipality was 15.6 %. Findings show that being
male or female had no association with being overweight or obese. Combined
overweight and obesity prevalence was higher in private schools compared to public
schools (21.1 % vs. 9.1 %, p < 0.001). Among the various socio-demographic factors which
were tested, the age of respondents, number of siblings, family history of obesity, educational
attainment of their mothers and occupation of their mothers, and how much money given to
pupils were the factors that were significantly associated with overweight/obesity at the
bivariate level. Family history of obesity and occupation their mothers were significantly
associated with overweight/obesity at the multivariate level. Getting food from the school
feeding program, and bedtime had a significant association with overweight at the bivariate
level whereas having a snack at lunchtime and buying food in school had a positive association
with obesity on the multivariate level. Also, getting food from the school feeding program, and
the time the pupils went to bed had a positive association with obesity on the bivariate level
while the time the pupil had their last meals and the time, they went to bed had a positive
association with obesity at the multivariate level. School-based interventions such as physical
education is needed to promote healthy lifestyles among school children. Parents of pupils in
private schools need to be educated by the Ghana Health Service about the prevalence of
overweight/obesity in their wards, the consequences of overweight/obesity in the life of their
wards. This would go a long way to help the parent to reduce the obesogenic environment
around their kids as well control the type of food their wards consume.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Food and Nutrition Education,
Faculty of Home Economics Education, submitted to
the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Food and Nutrition Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba.