SUMMARY

STUDY ON THE PREVALENCE OF

PROTEIN -ENERGY MALNUTRITION

IN CHILDREN 5 YEARS AND UNDER.

IN KIYEYI TARGET AREA.

TORORO DISTRICT

JANUARY -APRIL 1990

BY

LOUISE SSERUNJOGI

ULLA UUSITALO

DAN BAGENDA

And

4th YEAR Medical Students 1989 - 1990.

CHILD HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

MAKERERE UNIVERSITY.

APRIL,1992

ABSTRACT

The nutrition baseline survey was carried out in Kiyeyi Project defined target area in Tororo District, Eastern Uganda from January to April 1990. The overall objective was to assess the nutritional status of children under the age of five years.

The survey sample consisted of 105 households covering 10 villages. The total number of children included in the study was 209. Out of these, 40% were under twelve months of age. Data was collected using a questionnaire covering: demography, social history, home environment, water and sanitation, food production, food preparation, family diet, infant feeding, immunization, and morbidity. Assessment of nutritional status was done with using anthropometry measurements. Clinical examinations and obsevations were conducted on all children of 2 years.

The mean household size was 7.5 individuals with an average of 1.99 children under five years of age. About half (49%) of the respondents had never got ten any formal education, compared to only 22% of the male heads of the households who were uneducated. The main occupation for both men and women was subsistence farming.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of the interviewed households had no latrine facilities. The main source of water was unprotected springs, wells, and swamps, during both wet and dry seasons; Only 10% of the households had access to boreholes.

Cassava, millet, sweet potatoes, groundnut, maize and green vegetables were the main crops cultivated for food by 50% of all the households visited. The main food item found in stock was millet for (74%) of the households.

Sixty-five percent of the households brewed alcoholic beverages and most of these sold it to generate household income. Millet, cassava, maize and sorghum are some of the food commodities used in brewing alcohol.

The 24-hour dietary recall indicated that 72% of households got some form of breakfast and 40% provided snacks for children. Most households provided lunch and supper. The meals of the children were constituted from the high bulk diet of adults. The typical diet throughout the year for most households was stiff millet-cassava bread with green leaf vegetables.

Several foods are culturally prohibited in infant feeding; most of the foods prohibited for young children are among the most available foods for the typical family diet of this community.

The majority of mothers (45%) reportedly stopped breast-feeding between 18 and 24 months after delivery. The first food introduced to the majority of the children (69%) was cow's milk. About half (59.6%) of the breast-feeding children had been introduced to supplementary foods by four months of age, while a total proportion of 91.5% of the children had been introduced to the supplementary foods by the age of six months.

The prevalence of underweight (low weight for age) using z-score indicator of -2SD, was 18.3%. The prevalence of wasting (low height for height) was 0.5%. The prevalence of stunting (low height for age) was 35%. Overall, malnutrition (PEM) increased steadily during the first and second years of life. According the measurement of mid-upper-arm circumference 13.9% of the children age 12-59 months were at risk, the majority being within the age group of 24-35 months.

The prevalence of stunting and underweight was similar among boys and girls. The mothers of over half (55%) of the stunted children had had no formal education and 70% of stunted children had been sick during the two weeks prior to the study. Fourty one percent of the children in alcohol-brewing households were stunted, compared to 24% stunted in non-alcohol-brewing households.

KEYWORDS[ nutrition, beer brewing