The nutrition of our school-age children forms the foundation of the population’s health in the future.  A well-nourished child has been characterized as someone who has the capacity to attain proper brain development, manifests good appetite and good health, and has the ability to be attentive.  These traits would enable the child to perform well academically.

The absence of essential nutrients in the child’s diet would make the child prone to sickness thus making him less productive in school.  Undernutrition, one of the nutrition problems of school-age children would lead to poor mental and physical development and weak immune system thereby making the child susceptible to infections. Iodine deficiency disorder results to reduced intelligence and psychomotor retardation.  Iron deficiency anemia results to decreased social responsiveness and low level of overall intellectual development.