Socio-Economic Background Of Children Admitted To Kenyatta National Hospital With Kwashiorkor

Abstract

In this study the socio-economic backgrounds of children admitted to paediatric observation ward of Kenyatta National Hospital between October 1982 and March 1983 were studied and compared with those of matched normal children attending Child Welfare Clinic of the same hospital and over the same period of time. A total of 103 cases of Kwashiorkor and 93 controls were seen and their parents interviewed.The majority of children with Kwashiorkor (US%) were from Nyanza Province in contrast to overall paediatric admission in the hospital, of which U7% were from Central Province. A large proportion of children with Kwashiorkor were not resident in Nairobi, 51$ compared to 8% for controls. Thus most children admitted in this unit with Kwashiorkor came from rural areas. Compared to mothers of controls, mothers of children with Kwashiorkor were found to be younger, (62$ below 23 years), of lower formal education and many (41$) were either single, in polygamous marriages or divorced. 86$ of these mothers had less than eight years of formal education compared to 35$ for mothers of controls. 84$ of mothers of children with Kwashiorkor were either unemployed or employed on lowly paid unskilled manual jobs (58$) for control mothers) Fewer (25$) of mothers of malnourished children used contraceptives compared to mothers of controls (44$).