Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA.
Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 19;19(6):3666. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063666.
Malnutrition and hunger can lower a child's ability to learn effectively. Many countries in Africa experience high rates of childhood undernutrition, and school feeding programs are a common tool used to address this challenge. A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the effect of school-provided meals on educational outcomes in preschool and primary school children. Specific outcomes of interest in this review included test scores, attendance, and enrollment rates. PubMed and Scopus were used for an electronic search of relevant studies. Studies included in this review were randomized and non-randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort studies, controlled before-after studies, and pre/post-test design studies published in the past 10 years in English in sub-Sahara Africa. Findings from the nine studies included in this review suggest a positive correlation between school feeding programs and educational outcomes. Although mealtime may reduce classroom time, the benefits of providing a meal outweigh the potential loss of learning time because hungry children may not learn as effectively. In conclusion, it is recommended that school meal programs be implemented and expanded. To improve general wellbeing and learning capabilities of children, school meals should be employed starting at a young age. More research on school feeding programs is needed concerning the preschool age group (2-5 years), as there is a limited amount of information in this area.
营养不良和饥饿会降低儿童有效学习的能力。非洲的许多国家都面临着儿童营养不足的高比率，而学校供餐计划是解决这一挑战的常用工具。本系统评价旨在评估学校提供的膳食对学前和小学儿童教育成果的影响。本评价中关注的具体结果包括考试成绩、出勤率和入学率。使用 PubMed 和 Scopus 对过去 10 年在撒哈拉以南非洲以英语发表的相关研究进行电子检索。本评价纳入的研究包括随机和非随机对照试验、前瞻性队列研究、对照前后研究和前后测试设计研究。本评价纳入的九项研究结果表明，学校供餐计划与教育成果之间存在正相关关系。虽然用餐时间可能会减少课堂时间，但提供膳食的好处超过了潜在的学习时间损失，因为饥饿的孩子可能无法有效学习。总之，建议实施和扩大学校供餐计划。为了提高儿童的整体幸福感和学习能力，应该从年幼时就开始提供学校膳食。需要对学前年龄段（2-5 岁）的学校供餐计划进行更多研究，因为这方面的信息有限。
