Authored by EN Onyeneke*
Abstract
The prevalence of malnutrition and stunting in under five Creche of any rural private school in Owerri North L. G. A was investigated. Owerri North is made up of seven districts namely Egbu, Emekuku, Emii, Ihitte/Ogada/Oha, Naze, Obibi-Uratta and Orji. A random selection of four schools were made and the schools include; Oxford Foundation Academy, Ulakwo, Rhema Kiddies School, Amaorie, Noble Star Academy, Orji and St. Carols Nursery and Primary School, Ulakwo. These schools were selected because they meet the set out standard and quality for Nursery Education. The study adopted a cross-sectional design involving 250 pupils from four schools. Simple random selection by balloting was used to select the children from the schools. The questionnaire was validated and pre-tested by lecturers in the Nutrition and Dietetics Department, and data on anthropometric indices- weight and height, BMI and MUAC; socio-demographic status, dietary pattern and frequency of food consumption were collected. Results obtained showed that one hundred and twelve (44.8%) under five were males while 138 were females (55.2%). About 209 (83.6%) were from Imo state and of the Igbo ethnic group240 (96%). Five (2%) of the respondents were between the ages of 6 to 12 months, 114 (45.6%) were aged between 1 to 3 years, and 130 (52%) were aged 3 to 5 years. The socio-demographic data of the respondents showed that the 70 (28%) of the respondents’ fathers were civil servant, 94 (37.6%) were traders and 27 (10.8%) were farmers. Fifty (20%) of the respondents’ mothers were civil servants, 134 (53.6%) were traders and 25 (10%) were farmers, while 41 (16.4%) were of other occupations. Monthly income distribution of the children’s parents showed that 29 (11.6%) earned ₦10,000-50,000, 119 (47.6%) earned ₦50,000 – 100,000, 96 (38.4%) earned above ₦100,000. Data from living condition showed that 154 (61.6%) live in a bedroom flat, 44 (17.6%) live in one room apartment and 39 (15.6%) live in public yard. Data on the dietary practices of the children’s care givers showed 221 (88.4%) prepared food at home to feed the children, (78.4%) eat three times in a day, 214 (85.6%) took in-between meals and 173 (69.2%) took snacks as in-between meals. About 243 (97.2%) consumed fruits and vegetables, of which (55.2%) were frequent, 66 (26.4%) twice in a week and 36 (14.4%) occasionally. Data from the frequency of food consumption from various food groups showed that 97 (38.8%) of the children consumed cereals and their products on a daily basis, 92 (36.8%) consumed cereals 3 to 4 times in a week. Starchy roots and tubers consumption showed that 98 (39.2%) consumed roots and tubers three to four times weekly, 88 (35.2%) once to twice weekly. One hundred and seven (42.8%) consumed legumes and its products once to twice weekly, 83 (33.2%) three to four times weekly, while 119 (47.6%) consumed vegetables daily, and 82 (32.8%) consumed fruits once to twice per week with additional 79 (31.6%) daily. Data on milk and milk products consumption showed that 92 (36.8%) consumed milk three to four times weekly and 62 (24.8%) daily. The prevalence of wasting among the under-five was 2.8%, stunting 3.2%, and underweight was 1.6%. The mid-upper arm circumference measurement showed that only 3 (1.2%) of the children were malnourished, while 242 (96.8%) were normal. This study shows that stunting, underweight and wasting results from a complex interaction of factors. Poor Socioeconomic and environmental conditions are important determinants of nutritional status. Poor nutrition knowledge as a re3sult of limited access to nutrition education also leads to poor food choice by the mothers. Therefore, education of women should be treated with utmost priority because it will help raise the standard of living of the family and pave way for a better socio-economic status and healthier food choice.
Keyword: Anthropometric indices; Feeding habit; Health; Nutritional status; Private schools; Nigeria
Introduction
The concept of malnutrition and stunting in under five kids is not foreign to the ear. Theoretically, malnutrition is a term that refers to both under nutrition and over nutrition. People are malnourished if the calories and protein they take through their diet are not sufficient for their growth and maintenance due to ill health, they are not able to make complete use of the food they eat (under nutrition) or if they consume too many calories (over nutrition). In this paper, we consider under nutrition and malnutrition equivalently [1]. The physical and /or mental development of children can be hampered by poor nutrition during childhood which consequently may lead to a greater risk of casualty from communicable diseases or additional critical infection which ultimately end in a bigger economic burden of a society. Evidently, malnutrition among children and mothers adversely affect the growth of development in both national and international economic arena as well as health and sustainable developments. Malnutrition is the salient source of 3.5 million deaths globally and responsible for 35% of the morbidities among children under five which undoubtedly, defines malnutrition as a prime cause for critical health and development disorders faced by people, mostly children in developing countries Characteristics of children suffering from malnutrition include stunting or chronic malnutrition (low height for age), wasting or acute malnutrition (low weight fit height ) or being underweight for their age (United Nations 4th report ,2000). Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. Children are defined as stunted if their height -for-age is more than two standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median (WHO, 2019).
Many of us use the words Daycare, Crèche, Educare, Nursery school and Pre-primary fairly interchangeably. However, some mother’s become quite upset when they realise the type of care their toddler or pre- schooler is receiving is not what they had been expecting. A crèche or day care facility offers supervised play for babies and young toddlers. The staff may have certificates in childcare but won’t necessarily have degrees in early childhood development. There are toys and lots of fun and the needs of your child is being taken care of with meal, snacks, naps, changing times and some even do potty training at a set stage (though there is much debate around this ,as many believe that potty training when children are ready is more successful) [2].
Globally, prevalence of stunning amongst school age children typically varies from place to place ranging from 9.3-24.0% in Latin America and Carribean to as high as 20.2-48.1 in Africa. In South Africa the prevalence for stunting is 18.0% whereas it is as high as 42.0% and 50.0% in mid and Eastern Africa respectively. Nationally, prevalence of stunting among primary school children ranges from 11.5% in Anambra, 11.8% in Onitsha to as high as 60% in Kebbi State. In Nigeria, the progress towards halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has hitherto been slow and daunting. Stunting has profound effects on the health of children. It predisposes to heightened risks of severe infection as a result of immune compromised responses. Stunting has also been implicated in increased morbidity and mortality, reduced physical, neurodevelopmental and economic capacity and an elevated risk of metabolic diseases diseases adulthood. Under nutrition significantly interferes with a number of bodily functioned such as immunity (cell -mediated immune responses) antibody responses and cytokine production that as a result provoke poor health outcomes in early infancy and childhood. Most importantly, the high prevalence of bacterial and parasitic diseases in poor and developing countries have continued of exacerbate the effect of stunting in children.
Risks of stunting are high in children as a result of heightened vulnerabilities to low dietary intake, inaccessibility to food, inequitable distribution of food within the household, improper food storage and preparation, dietary taboos and infectious diseases. Significant associations have been established between early childhood stunting and late onset adulthood depression with elevated self - reported conduct problems. The consequences of stunting iterated above demonstrate the need to investigate and implement interventions to address the problem amongst school children. Furthermore, the ‘double burden of malnutrition’, (in which households have a stunted child and an overweight mother) makes stunting as a form of under nutrition quite worrisome. Numerous studies have investigated and provided broader national estimates of stunting, even though key health-related targets in the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals supports concerted calls to eradicate poverty and hunger whilst also bridging inequities in health. Bearing this in mind, there is a dire need for comparative statistics across wealth quintiles and vulnerable populations that can inform formulation and adoption of feasible policies at the strategic and operational levels of government in order to curtail the effects of stunting in Nigeria. The prevalence of malnutrition and stunting occurs mainly in children especially the under five. In Nigeria, the economic situation of the country has led to malnutrition and stunting. Hence, the knowledge of the effects of malnutrition will aid in the consumption of adequate diet to increase the healthiness of the population. It was therefore important to study how malnutrition affects the health of an individual and may lead to chronic health effect. The general objective of the study is to examine the prevalence of malnutrition and stunting in Under five (5) creche in rural private Nursery Schools in Owerri North L.G.A.
The benefits that could be deprived from the outcome of the research work are as follows:
1. Identification of the causes of poor nutrition on children and the implementation of the recommendation suggestions by various nutritional bodied which will lead to better and healthy generation,
2. Provides useful information on the alarming rate of malnutrition in the country and how it will be reduced and
3. The result of the work can be used as models by government and all health workers on child right and wellbeing.
Materials and methods
Study area
Owerri is located within the Southeast Part of Nigeria and lies at Latitude 50 27-50 31’N and longitude 6055-7003’E, it is the capital of Imo State. Owerri North is made up of seven districts namely Egbu, Emekuku, Emii, Ihitte/Ogada/Oha, Naze, Obibi-Uratta and Orji. The 12 wards in Owerri North L.G.A are Agbala/Obube/ Ulakwo, Awaka/Ihitte Ogada, Egbu, Emekuku i, Emekuku ii, Emii, Ihitte Oha, Naze, Obiibi Uratta I, Obiibi Uratta ii, Obibiezena, Orji. A random selection of four schools were made and the schools include; Oxford Foundation Academy, Ulakwo, Rhema Kiddies School, Amaorie, Noble Star Academy, Orji and St. Carols Nursery and Primary School, Ulakwo. These schools were selected because they meet the set out standard and quality for Nursery Education.
Survey design
A cross sectional study of 250 pupils from four schools.
Sample selection
Simple random selection by balloting was used to select the children from the schools.
Sample size determination
The formula of YaroYahmen (1974) as presented in equation (1) was used for the samples size determination.
To know more about our Journals...Iris Publishers
No comments:
Post a Comment