The Prevalence of Stunting among Students of 6th Grade Primary Schools in Dhi Qar Governorate-Iraq in 2024

Abstract Background: Stunting affects school-age children’s health, mental development, and academic performance. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of stunting among primary school-age children in the governorate of Dhi Qar, Iraq. Subjects and Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was done among school children of 6 th -grade students in primary schools in Dhi Qar Governorate. Multistage random sampling was done to select the schools. Data on sociodemographic and chronic diseases of children were collected using a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were done to assess the status of stunting. Data were entered into Excel 356, then transformed to SPSS version 27 for further analysis. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 3054 school-age children with the mean age of 144.07 ± 10.25 months participated in the study. The overall prevalence of stunting among primary school children was 3.6%. Conclusion: Stunting was a major problem among school-age children, but in Iraq depending on this study, there is an acceptable rate of 3.6% which differs from global NGO results; thus, we must do more research to find the details of the prevalence of stunting, not only in adolescents but in all other age groups.