ASSESSING KNOWLWDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES: AROUND THE MALAWI FOOD GUIDE AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN URBAN DEDZA

Nutrition knowledge and positive attitude are known to influence dietary practices. There is paucity of information on nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices of school-going children in Malawi. This study established nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices of the Malawi Food Guide among urban primary school children in Dedza. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 86 school-going children from standard 5 up to standard 8, systematically sampled from one randomly selected school. A structured questionnaire and key informant interviews were used to collect data. A nutrition knowledge score was determined, and overall knowledge level was calculated as the total of correct responses in percentages. Scores of ¿ 70%, 71-89% and ¿90% were categorised as low, moderate and high knowledge respectively. Dietary practices were determined from information on food consumption. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS. Children had high overall nutrition knowledge, though some individual questions on knowledge about six food groups were not answered correctly. Dietary practices were poor, but their attitudes were good. This study recommends activities to promote good dietary practices.