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Effect Of Maternal Literacy On Nutritional Status 0-5 Years
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
The
prevalence of chronic malnutrition among under-five children remains
persistently high in Nigeria. For example, in the Northern Region of
Nigeria, 32.5% of children below five years are stunted, 12.9% wasted,
and 21.8% underweight (1). Inadequate childcare practices are
fundamental to addressing malnutrition among children. Poor maternal
education (formal and informal) has been identified as a major
constraint to good childcare practices in Nigeria (2). A well-resourced,
targeted and coordinated nutrition education can improve maternal
nutritional knowledge, healthcare-seeking behaviours, and practices
significantly. Consequently, a number of health-related non-governmental
organizations, including Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Adventist
Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), World Vision International (WVI),
and the Nigeria Health Service (GHS) have been promoting proper
childcare practices, including appropriate infant-feeding practices and
management of childhood illnesses, such as diarrhoea. Health and
nutrition messages are usually targeted to mothers, most of whom have
not received formal education. These women usually patronize health
services at antenatal clinics and child welfare centres (CWC).
Additionally, patronage of preventive health services provides an
opportunity to improve care practices through both preventive healthcare
(immunization, antenatal care for the mother, etc.) as well as
management of childhood morbidity. Effective utilization of knowledge
and skills gained from health and nutrition education is, therefore,
expected to improve the health and nutritional status of children
through improved knowledge and care practices. However, there are
limited data on the impact of nutrition education, especially in women
who have not received formal education. Care behaviour choices are
mediated by knowledge as well as by resource availability. Practices and
behaviours of individuals are influenced by knowledge, awareness and
skill levels. Even in households with similar levels of access to
disposable income and resource, there is a wide variation in nutritional
outcomes of children (3), which tends to suggest that factors other
than resources are responsible for nutritional status of children.
Adequate childcare is an underlying factor for optimal growth.
Caregiving behaviours that provide conducive environment within which
children are raised are central to nutritional outcomes of children, and
policy attention to them has been recommended by the International
Conference on Nutrition (4).
The fundamental role of care to child
nutrition has been well-established since 1990 through UNICEF Model of
Care. To provide care adequately, caregivers require education (both
formal and informal), time, and support (e.g. control of resources). In
the Nigeriaian context, it remains unclear what the relationship is
between the nutritional knowledge of non-literate mothers and
nutritional status of their children. One would expect that mothers’
knowledge of child nutrition and childcare practices would have a
significant effect on their children’s nutritional status. However,
there are conflicting study results on this.
Whereas some studies
have reported that maternal nutritional knowledge is positively
associated with the nutritional status of children (5–7), others have
also shown that adequate knowledge per se is not always translated into
appropriate actions (8–10). Understanding the factors that determine the
translation of adequate child health and nutritional knowledge into
appropriate action in impoverished environment might help design more
effective interventions against malnutrition. It remains unclear whether
giving mothers adequate knowledge on proper childcare practices has an
independent impact on child growth. This study, therefore, investigated
the relationship between mother’s knowledge level in childcare practices
and nutritional status of preschool children living in impoverished
rural communities of Northern Nigeria.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study was carried out to effect of maternal literacy on nutritional status 0-5 years with special reference to mother and child hospital Ondo State. Specifically, the study assess mothers’ knowledge level in recommended childcare practices relating to nutrition. The study also investigate whether translation of acquired health and nutritional knowledge into practice is dependent on the socioeconomic status of the household in impoverished rural communities. The study further assess t ... Continue reading---
