Resumen

DE TEJADA LAGONELL, Miren; GONZALEZ DE TINEO, América; MARQUEZ, Ydania  y  BASTARDO, Lurys. Mothers' schooling and malnutrition of children at Centro Clínico Nutricional Menca de Leoni. Caracas. An Venez Nutr [online]. 2005, vol.18, n.2, pp.162-168. ISSN 0798-0752.

Health and education are deeply related. The influence of the school on the construction of knowledge and the process of getting to learn attitudes related to health, allows the person, especially girls, to hope for a healthy life and play an important part in changing certain circumstances in life and make the right decisions in relation to the creation of healthy environments. Various international organizations have paid great attention to this subject and have studied the influence that the lack of prosecution by the school may have on the matter of health. This research consists on the study of the relationship between the level of knowledge of 100 mothers and the intensity of desnutrition of their kids who were treated at Centro Clínico Nutricional del Instituto Nacional de Nutrición. Caracas - Venezuela. The analysis of the data shows that the possibility for the kid to suffer from desnutrition increases as the mother’s knowledge decreases(r = -0.36, significative to 0.01). The instruction of the mother and the prosecution of her acquisition of knowledge on different levels of the system of education, constitute an important factor for the creation of healthy environments and the education of her family. Education must be considered as something necessary to face desnutrition, therefore, it is convenient to empower the incorporation of the kid into the school and make his or her access to education easier.

Palabras clave : Mothers' schooling; health; desnutrition; education.