Prevalence and correlates of hunger among private aided secondary school children in Bangalore

Background: Literacy is an indispensable minimum condition for development of India, but it is far from suffi-cient. The Gross Enrolment Ratio of class I to X is 94.4 per cent and the dropout rate is 52.8%. There are many reasons for school dropouts, Hunger plays a major role. Hence the present report focus on the prevalence and factors associated with hunger among private aided secondary school children in Bangalore. Methods: This study involved secondary analysis of data from the PhD research project i.e. Effectiveness of Adolescent Health Education Programme on Health among adolescents, which was conducted from 2010 to 2015 at Bangalore, Karnataka, India to estimate the prevalence of self-reported hunger within the last 30 days among primary and secondary school age group. Results: Total of 204 students data were analysed. The overall prevalence of self reported hunger was 14.7%. Results revealed that age, dietary pattern and use of soap for hand washing had significant association with hun-ger. Conclusion: Hunger among school children is an crucial public health issue in India, which in turn affect the literacy rate, productivity and overall growth of the nation. It is high time for the government and other stake holders to take necessary steps to eradicate hunger from world.