| dc.description.abstract | Malnutrition continues to be a major public health problem of considerable
concern in developing countries. Food intake and disease are considered as
immediate causes of the problem, aggravated by poor hygiene and
sanitation. However, even in the presence of the above factors, poor childcare
practices of mothers and other caregivers are of paramount importance.
In Uganda, despite having plenty of food, the prevalence of malnutrition has
not changed much from the findings of UDHS 1988/89 and those of (UDHS,
1995). To contribute to the body of knowledge, a cross-sectional survey was
carried out in January-March, 1997 in Busia, Uganda. It aimed at providing
information on the nutritional status of children and the associated
maternal characteristics in the study area.
A total of 359 children and their mothers from 359 households were
included in the study. The collected data was cleaned, screened and
analysed using SPSS/PC+ and Anthro programme to calculate the Z scores.
The overall rate of malnutrition was 32.3%, 26.6%, and 12.2% for stunting,
underweight and wasting respectively. The mean body mass index of the
mothers was 21.1. About 8.8% of the mothers were malnourished with a
BMI of 18.5 and below; 73.9% of the mothers were normal while 17.3% were
obese.
Malnutrition was not significantly associated with the three child nutritional
variables (p> 0.05). However, it was significantly associated with nutritional
status of the mother (p=0.02). The only predictor for stunting the reasons
mothers reported for weaning (p=0.02). There was no significant factor
contributing to underweight of the children in the study area. The predictors
for wasting were nutritional status of the mother (p=0.02), and their
education level (p=0.02). However, better nutritional status of the mother
has a positive impact on child nutritional status.
Recommendations from the findings of the study were that educational
programmes through MCH on weaning practices be enhanced, nutritional
programmes in already existing institutional facilities be improved and
emphasis be placed on education of the girl child. This will keep the girls at
school, hence reduce the number of young mothers in the study area.
Mothers should be encouraged to visit health clinics and also be assisted
through "Entandikwa" to set up income generating activities. | en |
