Maternal socio-economic and cultural influence on feeding practices and nutritional status of children aged 0-23 months: a case of Muheza district.
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Date
2010
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Maternal socio-economic and cultural factors such as marital status, educational level, occupation and economic status may have some influence on feeding practices and hence nutritional status of children under two years of age. This study aimed at investigating maternal social, economic and cultural influences on feeding practices and nutritional status of under two years of age children in Muhcza district of Tanga region; using a cross-sectional survey design. A .questionnaire was used to collect socio-economic and feeding practices data; focus group discussions were conducted to collect cultural data. Nutritional status assessment was done using summary indices of nutritional status: weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed for all variables using
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Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Anthropometric data was analyzed using Nutrisurvey for SMART software and was later on transported to SPSS for further analysis. More than half of mothers (77.6%) fed their babies colostrum. Nearly half (49%) of the mothers initiated breastfeeding within one hour, and only 19.1% infants were exclusively breastfed. Mothers’ educational level and monthly income came out to be significant risk factors for improper initiation of breastfeeding (P<0.05). Exclusive breastfeeding was highly associated with educational level of the mothers (P<0.05) rather than any other socio-economic variables. The introduction of complementary foods was found to be influenced by marital status (P<0.05) and monthly income of the mother (P<0.01). Among all under two years of age children surveyed, 11.2% were underweight, 37.5% were stunted, and 6.6% were wasted. There was a significant relationship between feeding
practices of under two years of age children and maternal socio-economic and
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cultural practices. The study revealed that under-nutrition of the under two children was an important public problem in the area. Family members especially mothers need to be provided with knowledge and skills on child feeding practices so that they could adopt correct feeding practices to overcome the possible consequences of malnutrition.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Maternal Socio-Economic, Cultural Influence, Feeding Practices, Nutritional Status, Children Aged 0-23 Months, Muheza District