ASSESSMENT NUTRITIONNAL STATUS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN OF EPE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF LAGOS STATE

The level of nutrition ànd health status are direct indicators of the quality oflife.and indirect indicators of overall socio-economic development in a society. M~lnutrition could be said to be a pathological state in which an individual is taking in nutrients that are more or Jess than the required nonnal physiological range as needed by the body (Jelliffe, 1966). Malnutrition impairs immunocompetence so that children involved tend to be more prone ..to severe infection than heijlthy children, (Delgado, 1980). It could also result in adverse effects like kwashiorkor, marasmus, increased morbidity, increased mortality, and retarded growth which consequently impairs?intellectual performance (P~telletier; 1994, Van de Broeck et al, 1993).