Determinants Of Acute Malnutrition Among Under-five Years Children
[A CASE STUDY OF ILLELA LOCAL GOVERNMENT SOKOTO STATE, NIGERIA]

According to Sommerfelt  et  al.,  (1994),  there is a negative association between the mother’s education and  underfive child malnutrition.  The higher the level of mothers’ education, the lower the percentage of  under-five  children classified as undernourished. According to the study, malnutrition was most prevalent among children whose mothers attended primary school.  It is however important to note that  the decline in the levels of malnutrition with increasing maternal  education is not always gradual.  In some countries, malnutrition levels are  fairly similar  among children whose mothers attended primary or secondary  school while elsewhere  there is a greater similarity  with children whose mothers attended primary school or had  no formal schooling.  Median levels of  malnutrition across  all countries range from 36 percent for children whose mothers had some primary education to 16 percent for children of mothers with secondary or higher education.
With increasing level of mother’s education, the proportion of children who are malnourished goes down as found out in the Uganda Demographic and Healthy Survey of 2006 (UBOS and Macro International Inc., 2007).This result is consistent with the findings of Webb and Block (2004)  that  highlighted the importance of human capital investment in improving child nutrition status. This implies that educated mothers are better aware about the nutrition requirements of their children by providing improved health care (Babatunde, 2011).In a similar study in Bangladesh, children of mothers with no education and primary education were 28% and 33% respectively more  stunted than  children of  mothers with secondary or higher education. Wasted and underweight children also showed similar results.
Children whose mother had no education or had primary education were more times significantly stunted and underweight than children whose mothers had secondary or higher level. However for wasting, children whose mothers had primary or secondary education had0.87 times lower odds of wasting than those of mothers with higher education (Nure, Nuruzzaman and Goni, 2011).
According to Lisa (2000), education of a mother has several potentially positive effects on the quality of care of children and consequently malnutrition. More educated women are better able to process information, acquire skills and model positive caring behaviours. More educated women tend to be better able to use healthcare facilities to interact effectively with health care providers, to comply with treatment recommendations and to keep their living environment clean. Education also increases women’s ability to earn income but this increases the opportunity cost of their time which may mitigate against some important care giving behaviours for example breastfeeding.
More to note is that  mother’s  education is  associated with  more efficient  management of limited  household resources, greater utilization of available health care services, better health promoting behaviours, lower fertility as well as child centred caring practises. All this consequently results into a reduction in malnutrition among under-five children  (Nguyen and Kam,  2008).  Indeed from the above study, children whose mothers had primary or no education were less likely to be stunted, underweight or even wasted perhaps because most of these mothers were unemployed and were able to stay home and care for their children.
2.4.2 MARITAL STATUS
On the study about mothers’ marital status and under-five child nutrition, findings in Ethiopia reveal that child's malnutrition is significantly associated with marital status.  It was found out that under-five child malnutrition is higher among unmarried rural and divorced/separated women compared to married ones (Teller, 2000).  Similarly, being a married mother was positively associated with good  nutritional status among children under five years in the Volta region of Ghana (Appoh and Krekling., 2005).  Contrary to the above, a study in Tanzania revealed that mothers  who are married were more likely to have undernourished children unlike those that were unmarried perhaps because of the cost of maintaining families hence sometimes these families fail to produce nutritious supplements to the under-five children (Nyaruhucha et al., 2006).
It is however important to note  that there  is scanty  literature linking mothers  marital status and malnutrition among under-five children in developing countries.  During the study done inAraba and Kalmalodistricts, marital status of the mother was also assessed in comparison to under-five malnutrition.