Dietary practices, morbidity patterns and nutritional status of lactating mothers among pastoralist communities in Isiolo county, Kenya
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Date
2014-11-28
Authors
Kahuro, Evah, W.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
During the period of lactation, nutrient needs of the lactating mother increase to cater for
her needs and the breastfeeding child. Due to this, undernutrition is common among
lactating mothers. In Africa, about 20% of the women of child bearing age are
undernourished. In Kenya, 12% of the women 15-49 years are considered thin with a
body mass index (BMI) of < 18.5. In the Kenyan Eastern region, 26% of the women
within the reproductive age have a BMI of <18.5. Lactating mothers among the
pastoralist communities living in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) are among the most
vulnerable groups. Information on the dietary practices, morbidity patterns and their
relationship to the nutritional status of lactating mothers among pastoralist communities
is limited. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the dietary practices, morbidity
patterns and nutritional status of the lactating mothers. The study will adopt a crosssectional
analytical study design on a randomly selected sample of 276 lactating mothers
among pastoralist communities in Isiolo County. A structured questionnaire will be used
to collect data on demographic, socio-economic characteristics, anthropometric and the
morbidity patterns. A 24 hour recall, food frequency and diet diversity score will be used
to collect data on the dietary practices of the lactating mothers. Anthropometric data will
be entered and analyzed using the Nutri-survey to determine nutritional status using cut
offs as provided by WHO (2007). Nutri-survey will be used for analysis of dietary intake
data to give the energy and nutrient intakes of the lactating mothers. Demographic, socioeconomic
data, dietary practices, BMI, morbidity data, energy and nutrient intake will be
entered in CsPro software and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. P-value of <0.05 will
be considered significant. Pearson co-relation will be used to assess the associations
between non-categorical variables and Chi-square (l) for categorical variables.
Regression analysis (R2) will be used determine the prediction of dietary practices and
morbidity patterns to nutritional status. Data from focus group discussions will be
transcribed and analyzed to show emerging themes. The findings of this study will be
significant as they will be used to inform and aid in policy formulation to solve the
problem of poor nutritional status among lactating mothers in pastoralist communities in
ASAL in the long term