The nutrition and health levels of students in rural areas, especially in poor areas, not only seriously affect the students’ physical and mental health but also raise an important issue that our country’s public health faces. For the implementation of the “Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Implementing Nutritional Improvement Programs for Compulsory Education in Rural Areas” and nutrition improvement programs to 26 million rural compulsory education students in 699 poor counties in Mongolia, eight pilot counties in inner Mongolia participated in the “Plan” [1]. Zhaji is a key county in the monitoring and evaluation of the nutrition and health status of students. The purpose is to greatly improve the nutrition of compulsory education students. This study focuses on students who face prominent health problems in different stages for the formulation of corresponding preventive control measures and strategies. The data of constitutional investigation in Inner Mongolia from 2012 to 2013 were analyzed. The results are reported as follows.

In summary, children and adolescents in puberty have special nutritional requirements. Given that this stage is a period of strong growth and development of the human body, naturally, reasonable nutrition or absence of the need for additional nutritional supplements is needed for the majority of young people to have healthy and strong bodies. Adequate nutrients can promote adolescent growth and development, brain function, and mental development. The data used in this research is from 2012 to 2013. The data is relatively old and has certain limitations, but the results are authentic and reliable. You can compare them with the latest data to get the comparative results and verify the poor areas nowadays whether the nutritional status of the students has improved.

The monitoring results show that the detection rate of malnutrition among students in impoverished areas in Inner Mongolia was 22.21% higher than that of students in Hohhot in 2009 [8], which was lower than that of primary and secondary school students in rural areas of Jiangxi Province in 2012 [9]. The undernourishment of students includes both weight loss and overweight. The results are inconsistent with the 2010 National Student Health Survey [10], which indicates that students in poor areas of Inner Mongolia have a prominent malnutrition. The possible causes of malnutrition include unreasonable diet, poor diet, lack of sufficient nutrients for growth and development, living conditions, living environment, nutritional level, and huge differences from conditions in developed regions. Malnutrition can have many effects on students, including inattention, weight loss, anemia, and indigestion [11] [12], which affects their learning. In the long run, malnutrition will not only seriously affect human growth and intellectual development, but also affect mental health. In 2012 and 2013 data from poor areas in Inner Mongolia, the detection of malnutrition in girls is mainly based on student weight loss and overweight, which were inconsistent with the 2010 National Student Physical Health Survey [10], which indicated that malnutrition among students in the poor areas of Inner Mongolia is prominent. Possible reasons that contribute to malnutrition include unreasonable diet, poor diet, absence of adequate nutrients for growth and development, living conditions, living environment, nutrition level, and large difference from the conditions of developed areas. Malnutrition can have many effects on students, including lack of concentration, weight loss, anemia, and indigestion [11] [12] and thus affects their learning. In the long run, malnutrition not only has serious consequences on body growth and mental development but also affects mental health. In the data from poverty-stricken areas in Inner Mongolia in 2012 and 2013, the detection rate of malnutrition among girls is higher than that of boys, and this result is consistent with those of domestic research [13] [14], although the difference is nonsignificant. Moreover, the growth retardation detection rate of Inner Mongolia students in poor areas is lower than that of Guangzhou students [15], and the detection rates of overweightness and obesity of Inner Mongolia students in poor areas are lower than that reported by the 2010 National Student Physique and Health Survey [10]. In the hemoglobin data in 2013, the total anemia among students in poor areas in Inner Mongolia was 6.3%, lower than the prevalence of total anemia in rural students in Leye County of Guangxi Province (9.43%) [16] but higher than that of 10- and 11-year-old students from Shanghai (2.7%) [17]. Anemia may be attributed to insufficient intake nutrients for body growth and development. As students gradually progress into adolescence, rapid growth and learning pressure occur. Some family conditions are not good, and thus students tend to stop paying attention to breakfast. Adolescent girls also experience menstrual cramps and blood loss. However, with the implementation of the Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education Students in 2011, the detection rate of overweightness and obesity in rural areas approach that of the national level, suggesting that the nutritional status of rural and even impoverished students does not fully represent the entire nutritional status of students. Many students still weight loss. Therefore, we will continue to implement the Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education and adopt effective intervention strategies and measures as early as possible to control a small number of students. Obesity and improvement of weight loss and mitigating stunting will be the focus of future work. In view of the nutritional status of students in impoverished areas in Inner Mongolia, we propose the following suggestions: 1) Continue to implement the student nutrition improvement plan and increase funding to supervise the daily meals of students. Appropriate foods should be added to their meals, such as certain fish, shrimp, vegetables, and dark fruit supply. Animal liver and nuts intake once a week should be ensured. Continue as well to provide students with milk, both for nutrition and to improve the quality of students’ meals. 2) The local government should enhance education and publicity so that every parent understands the current importance of nutrition and actively cooperates with the school to provide students with food security at home and a good eating environment. The government should also combine local conditions, expand the beneficiary population and coverage, expand the focus of monitoring, and provide a more comprehensive and feasible basis for the next step of the plan. Relevant departments should expedite the nutrition legislation process and implement the student nutrition meal plan as an urgent task.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Dong, B.W., Liu, W.T., Liu, J., Fan, L.X., Yun, H.X., Gai, X.J., Han, Z.Y., Song, Z.Z., Cui, C.X. and Liu, Y. (2020) Nutritional Status of Students in Poverty-Stricken Areas. Open Journal of Epidemiology, 10, 91-99. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojepi.2020.102008