Comparative study of nutritional status of communities engaged in different livelihood systems in Bagamoyo district, Tanzania
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Date
2010
Authors
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
A cross-sectional study was conducted in Bagamoyo district to compare the
nutritional status of communities engaged in three livelihood systems namely fishing,
pastoralism and farming found in three villages of Mlingotini, Chamakweza and
Kiwangwa. Anthropometric and haemoglobin level assessments were conducted on
794 individuals from 133 households. The findings show that malnutrition (wasting,
stunting and underweight) in underfive children were not significantly different in
the three livelihood systems. The prevalence of low BMI-for-age in school-age
children was higher in the pastoralist livelihood (31.2%) and lower in farming
livelihood (15.6%). Further analysis showed significant difference in BMI-for-age
whereby the pastoralist boys and girls had higher rate of low BMI-for-age and lower
mean scores. Malnutrition rate in adults was highest in fishing livelihood (37.9%)
and was lowest in pastoralist livelihood (27.1.7%). The total overnutrition
(overweight and obesity) was higher among adult females in farming and
undernutrition was higher among pastoralist females. Prevalence of anaemia was
significantly higher among underfives and children of 5-11 years old in pastoralists
and lower among farming children. The study recommends for intervention
programmes that will focus on eliminating the factors that impact on people’s
nutrition outcome such as structural or underlying factors of the people livelihood
systems and vulnerability to those particular factors (shocks).
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Thesis
Keywords
Nutritional status, Bagamoyo district, Tanzania, Livelihood systems