ArticleBMJ open2025
Impacts of Global School Feeding Programmes on Children's Health and Wellbeing Outcomes: A Scoping Review.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 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.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Associations between school meal attendance, dietary intake and nutritional status in Spanish school-aged children: a cross-sectional study.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Austere and Burnt Offerings: Countering the Material and Symbolic Othering Within School Meals in Aotearoa New Zealand with a Community Psychology Lens.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Systems-Based Dialogue With Secondary School Students to Explore School Food Environments That Promote Healthy People and Planet.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2026Article
- Pupils' Acceptance and Plate Waste of Sorghum-Based Breakfasts in South African School Feeding Programmes: A Mixed-Methods Study Across Five Provinces.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Policy absence and school meal provision in Türkiye: a structured narrative review and policy analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Impacts of Global School Feeding Programmes on Children's Health and Wellbeing Outcomes: A Scoping Review.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Exploring the barriers and facilitators of nutrition and dietary intake among school-aged children in the urban low-income setting of Addis Ababa.Nutrition research and practice · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesSchool feeding programmes (SFPs) are widely implemented to address child poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, yet evidence on their influence on children's health outcomes is limited. With ongoing debate around universal versus targeted provision, this scoping review aims to map global literature on SFPs, identify which health and well-being outcomes are reported, and explore how these outcomes vary by programme type (targeted vs universal).
designScoping review conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The protocol was pre-registered on the Open Science Framework. DATA SOURCES: Four electronic databases-Medline, PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar-were searched in December 2023 and July 2025. Reference lists of included papers were also screened. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Included studies examined the impact of SFPs on physical, emotional, psychological and social health outcomes in children aged 5-16. Only English-language studies published between 2009 and 2025 were included. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Data were extracted using a structured template and reviewed by multiple authors. Due to the heterogeneity in study designs and reported outcomes, a narrative synthesis approach was used to group findings thematically, following established guidance for narrative synthesis in systematic reviews.
resultsA total of 44 papers were included in the final review, spanning 13 countries and published between 2009 and 2025. SFPs were associated with healthier weight status, improved dietary intake, better social engagement and reductions in stigma. Targeted programmes addressed food insecurity but were more often linked to stigma and poorer mental health outcomes.
conclusionsUniversal SFP were effective at improving children's health outcomes such as healthy weight, improved behaviour and social support. Overall, both targeted and universal SFP positively impact children's health outcomes and address health disparities.
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Registered trials
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