Current Health Status of School Children in a Rural Area of Northeast Thailand

Abstract

Background : To assess whether nutritional  deficiencies and parasitic infection, which can be used to indicated poor health status, are still important and common problems  in Northeast  Thailand.

Objective : To assess the current health status of school children in a rural area of Northeast  Thailand.

Design: Descriptive study

Setting : Primary School in the village of nakamnoi, Nampong district, Khon Kaen province.

Subjects : School children from pratom 3 to 6 aged  8 – 12 years

Intervention : Antihelmintic drugs

Results : The prevalence of anaemia at the end of the rainy season was 30.5 percent, however, during the hot dry season was 30.5 percent, however, during the hot dry season prevalence was only 5.3 percent. 70 out of 158 children (45.2 percent) were found to be infected  with one or more parasites. Hgb and Hct values were found to increase significantly from the pre – antihelmintic treatment visit to the post-treatment visit in both infected and uninfected groups. The improvement was more significant in the uninfected group than the infected group.

Conclusion : The health status of the school children is generally good. The main health problems found were  anaemia and parasitic infections.