School Feeding and Nutritional Status of Students in Dubti District, Afar, Northeast Ethiopia: Comparative Cross-Sectional Study [Letter]

Dear editor

I have read the research article “School Feeding and Nutritional Status of Students in Dubti District, Afar, Northeast Ethiopia: Comparative Cross-Sectional Study” by Hussein et al.¹ I would like to congratulate the authors on this successful article and make some contributions. There are three advantages of this research: 1) it provides evidence that can be used to inform decisions and policies. For example, research conducted in the Afar region of Ethiopia found that school feeding programs were associated with improved nutritional status among primary school students. This evidence can be used to advocate for implementing similar programs in other regions. 2) identify problems and potential solutions. For example, it was found that the student’s grade level and source of dietary information were significant determining factors in stunting in students participating in school feeding programs. This can be used to develop interventions aimed at overcoming nutritional health problems. 3) leads to improved practice. For example, research finds that students who receive diet information from television are less likely to experience stunting than those who receive information from school media. This suggests that how dietary information is delivered can influence its effectiveness, and therefore, practice can be adjusted.

However, I identified three limitations of this study that can be addressed in future research: 1) this study did not measure the content of food provided in schools. Future research could include a detailed analysis of the nutritional content of foods better to understand their impact on students’ nutritional status.² 2) this study compared students who participated in the school feeding program with those who did not participate in the program. However, it would be beneficial for future research to compare different types of school feeding programs to determine which are most effective.³ 3) the research was conducted in a specific region of Ethiopia. Future research could expand the geographic scope to include other regions or countries to determine whether these findings can be generalized.⁴

In conclusion, this study provides valuable evidence regarding the effectiveness of school feeding programs in improving the nutritional status of students and identifies areas for further research and intervention.