Effect of childcare practices on the nutritional status of children aged 6-24 months in Morogoro Urban and Kilosa Districts
| dc.contributor.author | Charwe, Deborah.D | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2015-02-05T11:07:40Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2015-02-05T11:07:40Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2008 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of childcare practices on the nutritional status of children aged 6-24 months in Kilosa and Morogoro Urban districts. A sample of 300 mother-child pairs was randomly selected and interviewed using a structured, pre-tested questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The study revealed that, some of the socio-economic characteristics such as marital status, family size, education of the mothers, source of income, sex and age of the child had a positive effect on the nutritional status of the children. About 76.1% (n=285) of the children were currently breastfeeding. Majority of mothers (75%) started breastfeeding immediately after delivery i.e. first hour post delivery. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 24.4%, however the frequency of feeding of the children was lower than the recommended 5 times/day. There was high immunization coverage (98%) and growth monitoring visits. The study also revealed that, most of the mothers (98%) delivered their babies in health facilities and were assisted by trained medical personnel during delivery. In addition, the diseases which were associated with unhygienic conditions namely diarrohea (35.3%), running nose (37.9%), cough (38.2%) and vomiting (16.8%) affected many children compared to malaria (4.6%) and fever (40.4%). Poor nutritional status was more prevalent among the children aged 19-24 months. Prevalence of stunting in Morogoro urban and Kilosa districts were 15 and 18% respectively, however the prevalence of underweight was slightly lower in Morogoro urban (14.5%) than Kilosa district (14.9%). The study alsoiii revealed that, nutrition education intervention for the mothers improved significantly their child-care practices related to breastfeeding, feeding frequency, personal hygiene and hygiene of the general environment. It was concluded out of the study that, mothers should be educated and encouraged to start the antenatal clinic early month) and whenever possible, they should start the pre-natal clinic before conception. This will help in advising them on appropriate care practices during gestation e.g. appropriate weight gain based on pre-conception BMI. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Higher learning students loan board (HLSB) | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Charwe ,D.D(2008) Effect of childcare practices on the nutritional status of children aged 6-24 months in Morogoro Urban and Kilosa Districts .Sokoine Univesity of Agriculture. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/441 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Sokoine Universitry of Agriculture | en_US |
| dc.subject | Childcare practices | en_US |
| dc.subject | Nutritional status | en_US |
| dc.subject | Morogoro Urban | en_US |
| dc.subject | Kilosa Districts | en_US |
| dc.title | Effect of childcare practices on the nutritional status of children aged 6-24 months in Morogoro Urban and Kilosa Districts | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |