Childcare Practices,Nutrition Status and Morbidity Prevalence of Underfives Among Internally Displaced Persons in Kieni Forest, Gatundu District
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Date
2013-03-22
Authors
Kihagi, Wothaya Grace
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Abstract
Undernutrition in children continues to be a major challenge globally and in developing
countries. In Kenya, the burden of undernutrition is being felt and nutrition status' trends
have been deteriorating. Likewise, underfive mortality rates are increasing due to poor
childcare practices resulting from unsuitable infant and young child feeding practices and
inappropriate health care practices. People living in Internally Displaced Persons (lOPs)
Camps are faced with practical challenges which hinder good childcare practices yet the
Kenyan Government and other agencies find it hard to provide minimum standards of
water, food, shelter and health services as stipulated in the Humanitarian charter. The aim
of the study was to. determine the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
households as well'iaschildcare practices among IDPs in Kieni Forest. Assessment of
morbidity and nutrition status of underfives was done. A cross-sectional analytical design
was used to investigate the relationship between childcare practices, morbidity
prevalence and nutrition of underfives. The study site was purposively selected and a
comprehensive sample of 168 children used for the study. Data was collected using
structured questionnaire, an interview schedule guide, observation checklists and Focus
Group Discussions Guides. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version
11.5 was used to analyze data while ENA for SMART (2010) analyzed anthropometric
data. Chi-square test was used to describe the relationship between categorical variables
while Pearson product moment described the relationship of non categorical variables.
Multiple regression was used to predict nutrition outcome of underfives in Kieni. The
mean number of underfive per household was 1.5±0.6 while household size was 4.6± 1.2.
About 60 % of the caregivers were married while 18.5% were separated. The main
occupation (65.5%) of the caregivers was casual labour. Majority (70%) of the
households earned below Kshs 4QQOper month. Mothers were the principal caregivers
(88.7%) though use of informal daycare centres (27%) was common. Children in custody
of minors were 10.3% while significant proportion of children (34.2%) was unattended.
Children were universally breastfed .at birth with 65.1% initiated to breastmilk within
recommended first hour of life while bottle feeding rates were 73%. Only 28% of the
children achieved minimum dietary diversity. Morbidity prevalence was 71% with Acute
Respiratory Infections (63.1%), Malaria, (23.2%), skin diseases (14.3%) and diarrhoea
(11.3%) as major diseases yet only of half of caregivers sought treatment timely. The
prevalence of wasting was 2.6%, underweight 14.9% and stunting at 35.9%. Stunting was
higher than national rates and in girls than in boys (38.3% vs. 33.3%) though the
difference was insignificant (p>0.05). Dietary diversity and deworming were
significantly (p < 0.05) related to nutrition status (underweight) of underfives. The
predictors of nutrition status of children were deworming [OR, 5.43, P=0.003] and
household income [OR, 1.0, P=O.OII]. Overall, care practices and complementary
feeding practices were inadequate while sanitation was poor. Thus, public health
measures should be promptly addressed alongside continuous community outreaches to
enhance accessibility of health services and promotion of health. Similar research should
be replicated in other sites especially on efficacy of nutrition services in care centres.
Description
RC 628 .K5