SynthesisBMJ open2024
Impact of free school lunch program on nutritional status and academic outcomes among school children in India: A systematic review.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Inequities in Children's Food Environment: A Comparison between Slum and Non-slum Settings in Urban Bangladesh.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Article
- Mitigating food safety risks in Indonesia's free school meals programme.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Accreditation as a catalyst for improving child nutrition services in residential care: A case study.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Article
- Perspectives of adolescents from low-income households in Berlin-nutrition described by food affordability, household routines and autonomy: results from an exploratory qualitatively-driven mixed-methods study of cases.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- A Qualitative Study on the Knowledge and Awareness of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme Among Parents and Teachers.Cureus · 2025Article
- Rural multidimensional poverty and livelihood mix: A micro level study in Bihar, India.Heliyon · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionMid-day meal programmes (MDM) were introduced in India to improve school attendance, nutritional status and educational outcomes of school children. Numerous primary studies have examined the impact of the MDM programmes on both nutritional and educational outcomes in various settings across the country. However, synthesising the findings from these studies has been challenging. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review to assess the effects of MDM programmes on the nutritional and academic outcomes of school children in India.
methodsA comprehensive literature search was conducted, and relevant studies published between 1997 and 2022 were included. Two reviewers independently conducted study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment. The results were synthesised descriptively.
resultsThe systematic review included 31 studies. Among them, 16 studies focused on academic outcomes, while 18 studies reported children's nutritional status. Studies on MDM Scheme (MDMS) in children show mixed results on nutritional outcomes. While some studies show marginal improvements in height and weight measurements, others show no significant improvement. Regular MDMS access improves enrollment, attendance and retention rates for children, with lower dropout rates and higher academic achievement. However, its impact on academic performance remains unclear.
conclusionThe MDM programme in India was effective in improving the academic achievement and a few nutritional outcomes of school children, underscoring the importance of sustaining MDM programmes in India. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The review was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023391776). Available from: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023391776.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.