Planning, implementing and evaluating a school nutrition project in China

1. Planning, implementing and evaluating a school nutrition project in China Authors: Carmen Aldinger (HHD/EDC), Yu Sen-Hai (formerly WHO), Peter Glasauer (FAO) Presenter: Phyllis Scattergood (HHD/EDC) APHA Annual Meeting 2001, Atlanta, GA

2. Outline • Introduction • Children’s nutrition status in Zhejiang Province, China • Interventions based on WHO/FAO Document • Results from Mid-term Evaluation • Next Steps

3. China/WHO School Nutrition Project Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou and Wenzhou

4. Project Goals and Objectives • Overall Goals • Improvement of Nutrition and Health Status • Develop Model Health Promoting Schools • Project Objectives • Improvement of food intake and dietary behavior • Introduce changes to win bronze medal

6. Timeline • April 2000 Launching of project, initial training • April 2001 Mid-Term Evaluation • April/May 2002 Final Evaluation

10. Children's Nutrition Status

11. Children’s Nutrition Status • National 1992 Survey: • Inadequate nutrient intake, especially in rural areas • Protein: 88% RDA, Calcium: 38% RDA • Iron deficiency in primary school children: 13-26% • Hangzhou 1998 Survey: • Malnutrition: 22.5% • Overweight: 24.6%

12. Children’s Nutrition Status (cont.) • Many students do not eat breakfast • 22% of students feel hungry in late morning • 69% feel hungry sometimes • Meeting participants identified as problems: • students do not eat breakfast • school lunches and vendor food are not always nutritious

13. Baseline Survey • Conducted in May 2000 • Sample: • 2574 elementary students • 4275 middle school students • 661 teachers and staff • 1048 parents and guardians

14. Baseline Survey • General information • Status of breakfast, lunch, supper • Knowledge (nutrition knowledge and other health knowledge) • Attitude • Practice (children, teachers, parents) • Body Mass Index

15. Interventions

16. Interventions • School health teams established in all pilot schools • Training of teachers, cafeteria staff, students, and parents • Providing relevant materials • Drawing and essay competitions • Multi-disciplinary interventions

22. School Report Highlights from Hangzhou • Jiubao Primary School: outreach to community • Jiubao Middle School: opened to parents • Sijiqing Primary School: nutritious recipes • Chao Yang Middle School: addressed various components of HPS

23. Mid-Term Evaluation

24. Strengths • Commitment and enthusiasm • Various components of HPS addressed • Nutrition education is combined with ‘daily teaching’ • Students learn by doing • Students effectively influence their parents

25. Challenges For schools: • Increasing parent and community participation • Creating simpler, effective materials For us: • Transmitting concept of action plan • Language barrier

26. Next Steps

27. Next Steps • Final Evaluation in Hangzhou, April 2002 • Sustaining interventions in pilot schools • Spreading experience in China and around the world

28. Contact Information Carmen Aldinger, MPH Education Development Center, Inc. Health and Human Development Programs 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458 USA Tel. 617-618-2362 or 1-800-225-4276 Fax 617-527-4096 Email caldinger@edc.org

29. http://www2.edc.org/HHD/cal.asp “School Nutrition Project in China Changes Attitudes, Habits” Web site report on Mid-Term Evaluation of the China School Nutrition Project