Socio-Demographic Determinants of Malnutrition among Under-Fives in Mil-Goma: A Rural Community in Kaduna State, North Western Nigeria.

Abstract

Malnutrition remains a major public health problem in the developing world. It is a major underlying factor in many childhood diseases; and it is still one of the leading causes of under-five mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is particularly prevalent in rural areas where it affects one out every three preschool age children. This study was carried out to investigate the

prevalence of malnutrition and associated socio-demographic factors that affect malnutritionamong under-fives in Mil-Goma community,Kaduna State, North Western Nigeria.

This cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out using structured questionnaires and anthropometric measurements of height and weight of 288 children selected by multi-staged sampling method. Data was analyzed based on descriptive statistics, chi-square and logistic regression analysis using SPSS version 20. The SPSS results were presented in tables.

The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting in the children under-five years were 59.72%, 36.81% and 13.54% respectively. Malnutrition was found to be higher in children in their second year of life as compared to children in other age groups. There was a statistically significant association between maternal education, family income, mother’s occupation and stunting. Mothers who had only Quranic education were 11 times more likely to have stunted children than those with secondary education. There was also a statistically significant relationship between family income, maternal occupation and the prevalence of underweight among under-fives. There was a high prevalence of stunting observed among the children. Maternal education, maternal occupation and economic status of the family were important associations of poor nutritional status among under-five children. There is an urgent need for mounting nutritional intervention programmes to improve the nutritional status of the children.

Keywords: Malnutrition, Under-Fives, Stunting, Wasting, Underweight.