Impact of Soil-Transmitted Helminthes (STHs) on nutritional and anemia status in school-aged children in Batagarawa Local Government Area, Katsina State, Nigeria

Malnutrition and anaemia in school-aged children, particularly in developing nations, are serious public health issues linked to Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). To determine the prevalence and impacts of STHs on children's nutritional and anaemia status, a across-sectional study involving 320 randomly selected school-aged children aged 5 to 10 years in Batagarawa Local Government Area; Katsina State, Nigeria was conducted. Stool samples were collected and examined for the presence of STHs using the Formal-ether concentration technique. Body mass index (BMI) for age and haematocrit packed cell volume (PCV), respectively, were used to assess the nutritional and anaemia condition of the sampled children. A systematic questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic information. Three types of STH were identified, with an overall prevalence of 59.1%. Ascaris lumbricoides was more common (44.7%) than hookworm (29.1%) and Trichuris trichiura (2.5%). Location, soil play habits, not washing of hands after defecation, and walking barefoot were significantly associated with STHs (p<0.05). Infected children were more anaemic than the uninfected, but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Body mass index (BMI) percentile for age showed that 74.6% of the infected children were thin or under grown. Only 22.2% of the children achieve the normal growth and 3.2% were overweight. This study showed that STHs affected the children nutritional and anaemia status. Therefore, public education, deworming, and further research are encouraged to reduce the impact of STHs infection in the study area