Nutrition among students improving

Malnutrition rates among Chinese students continue to fall as the country's school health promotion initiative takes effect, according to a senior education official.

"The percentage of Chinese students who are physically healthy has reached more than 95 percent," Hao Ping, vice-minister of education, said during the Ninth Global Conference on Health Promotion.

Ministry of Education statistics show that the average height of boys and girls aged between 6 and 15 rose by 0.4 centimeters and 0.6 cm respectively in 2014, compared with 2012, while their average weight increased by 0.3 kilograms.

The percentage of students who fail to eat three meals per day dropped from 10.4 percent in 2012 to 7.1 percent in 2014, while the percentage of boys and girls with anemia in West China decreased by 3.3 percent and 3.9 percent respectively.

Hao said the government sees school health promotion as a priority and adheres to the idea of "health for each student". Therefore, to ensure the health rights of children in less developed regions, the ministry, in 2011, launched a nutrition improvement initiative for rural students of compulsory education years.

Since 2011, more than 159 billion yuan ($23 billion) has been invested in the project, covering more than 33 million students, Hao said.