Women’s work in farming, child feeding practices and nutritional status among under-five children in rural Rukwa, Tanzania
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Date
2015-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
Some progress has been achieved in reducing the prevalence of undernutrition among children under 5 years of age in Tanzania. In the
Rukwa region (2010), the level of stunted and underweight children was 50·4 and 13·5 %, respectively. The aim of this study was to assess the
nutritional status of children under 5 years of age, feeding practices and risk factors of undernutrition in a rural village in the Rukwa region, as
well as to discuss the results in light of a similar study conducted in 1987/1988. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 152 households
with children under 5 years of age. Data were obtained from the child’s main caretaker and the household head, using a structured
questionnaire and a 24 h dietary recall. Children’s length/height and weight were measured. The prevalence of stunting and underweight was
found to be 63·8 and 33·6 % (Z-score < −2 of WHO 2006 CGS), respectively. Sugar-water was given to 72·3 % of the children on the first day
after birth. A thin gruel was introduced after a median of 2 months (25th–75th percentiles; 1–3). The time mothers spent farming was a
significant risk factor for stunting (P = 0·04). Illness, food shortage and dry-season cultivation were significant risk factors for underweight
(P < 0·01). Using the NCHS/WHO 1983 growth reference (<75 % of the median), the prevalence of underweight was 25·0 %, similar to that
reported in 1987/1988 (26·4 %). In conclusion, the underweight prevalence was found to be at the same level in 2010 as was recorded in 1987/
1988. Current child-feeding practices were not in line with WHO recommendations. Women working in farms, food shortage, dry-season
cultivation and diseases partly explain the children’s poor nutritional status
Description
Keywords
Undernutrition, Malnutrition, Child-feeding practices, Women working in farms, Tanzania