THE PREVALENCE OF OBESITY AND ANEMIA AMONG CHILDREN SCHOOLED IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE CITY OF RABAT

Morocco is ranked among the countries with early nutrition transition characterized by moderate levels of overweight and obesity, and moderate levels of undernourishment with high levels of micronutrient deficiencies. Anemia and overweight / obesity association remains a current issue. This work aim to study the prevalence of obesity, overweight and anemia among children attending public schools in the city of Rabat as well as the food behavior of anemic children.

The transversal study was realized between April 2012 and June 2012 in 4 public schools. The survey conducted was based on two questionnaires for parents and children. The references used were those of the WHO in 2007. The hemoglobin was performed using the system Hemo Cue™. Our study covered 972 children (505 girls and 466 boys) aged between 6 and 14 years. The socioeconomic level of these children is low since 80% of the fathers have a low monthly income and 95% of the mothers were housewives and without any monthly income. The prevalence of obesity with overweight included is 15.1%. (9.1% were overweight and 6% of children were obese). The prevalence of anemia is 25.3%. 5.1% of anemic children were obese and 7.2% were overweight. 31.4% of anemic children do not take their breakfast and only 9% consumed meat every day. Fruits and vegetables were consumed daily by more than 40% of anemic children.

Our study demonstrated high rates of overweight, obesity and anemia among children of our population. It also showed that children obesity reveals a nutritional disorder which not only contribute in excessive fat mass but may reflect a micronutrient deficiency. therefore, nutritional education must be incorporated in strategies and programs that should question our lifestyle and encourage the consumption of micronutrients rich foods to avoid nutritional deficiencies.