Baseline school, child and household characteristics by study group for 2667 children
| Characteristic; n (%) * | Control | Intervention |
| School characteristics † | 23 schools | 27 schools |
| Children sampled per school | ||
| No. of children sampled, median (range) | 55 (31–64) | 56 (22–65) |
| School size (enrolment) | ||
| No. of children enrolled, mean (SD) | 1140.30 (550.03) | 968.71 (375.69) |
| School programme | ||
| Feeding | 2 (8.7%) | 6 (22.2%) |
| Deworming | 16 (72.7%) | 20 (74.1%) |
| Malaria control | 12 (54.5%) | 9 (33.3%) |
| School facilities | ||
| Water and sanitation | 7 (31.8%) | 7 (25.9%) |
| Gender-separated toilets | 20 (90.9%) | 23 (85.2%) |
| Hand-washing facilities | 8 (36.4%) | 14 (51.9%) |
| Child characteristics † | 1224 children | 1443 children |
| Age in years | ||
| Mean (SD) | 11.72 (3.17) | 11.88 (3.13) |
| 5–9 | 313 (25.6%) | 347 (24.1%) |
| 10–12 | 372 (30.4%) | 430 (29.8%) |
| 13 or more | 539 (44.0%) | 666 (46.2%) |
| Sex | ||
| Male | 587 (48.0%) | 684 (47.4%) |
| Female | 637 (52.0%) | 759 (52.6%) |
| Anthropometric z scores | ||
| Weight for age, mean (SD) | −1.03 (1.06) | −1.12 (1.18) |
| Height for age, mean (SD) | −1.31 (1.25) | −1.47 (1.22) |
| Body mass index for age, mean (SD) | −0.67 (1.02) | −0.67 (0.85) |
| Nutritional status | ||
| Underweight | 66 (16.8%) | 80 (18.4%) |
| Stunted | 308 (25.4%) | 460 (32.1%) |
| Thin | 76 (6.3%) | 93 (6.5%) |
| Health status | ||
| No. with Plasmodium falciparum infection (%) | 692 (56.4%) | 909 (63.0%) |
| Parasite density parasites/µl, mean (SD) | 716.76 (2832.41) | 743.80 (2225.41) |
| No. of anaemic children (%) | 388 (31.7%) | 476 (33.0%) |
| Haemoglobin concentration g/L, mean (SD) | 124.87 (15.12) | 125.24 (15.98) |
| Bednet use | ||
| Used a bednet last night (%) | 414 (33.9%) | 446 (31.0%) |
| Educational assessments | ||
| Sustained attention score, mean (SD) | 0.03 (1.01) | −0.03 (0.99) |
| Numeracy test score, mean (SD) | 0.07 (1.02) | −0.06 (0.98) |
| Literacy test score, mean (SD) | −0.03 (1.05) | 0.03 (0.96) |
| Household characteristics † | ||
| Parental education | ||
| No schooling | 195 (16.9%) | 241 (17.7%) |
| Primary schooling | 788 (68.2%) | 970 (71.1%) |
| Secondary schooling or higher | 173 (15.0%) | 153 (11.2%) |
| Socioeconomic status | ||
| Poorest | 221 (20.0%) | 282 (21.0%) |
| Poor | 243 (22.0%) | 261 (19.4%) |
| Median | 199 (18.0%) | 323 (24.0%) |
| Less poor | 201 (18.2%) | 249 (18.5%) |
| Least poor | 243 (22.0%) | 232 (17.2%) |
*% of non-missing children in each study group presented for categorised data. For continuous data mean (SD) is presented
†All characteristics have less than 2% missing data with the exception of following indicators: stunted, thin and underweight.
SD, standard deviation.