International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition

88-104

Authors: Kossi Akpaki, Isabelle Galibois, Sonia Blaney

In Senegal, only 43% of children aged 6-23 months are provided with iron-rich foods (IRF). Assessing determinants of mothers’ behaviour is imperative to improve young children nutrition. We developed a validated questionnaire and used it to assess psychosocial factors of mothers' intention to provide IRF to their children aged 6-23 months in the Matam area, Senegal. Using the planned behaviour theory, the first version of a questionnaire was developed and administered to 120 mothers. Exploratory factorial analyses (EFA) were used to generate a shorter and validated final version of the questionnaire, administered to another sample (N=100) of mothers to assess psychosocial factors underlying their intention to provide IRF to children. EFA revealed the importance of perceived benefits mothers have for the health/welfare of their children if providing them IRF, about acting according to expectations of persons in their surroundings and limited access to IRF due to physical/financial constraints. Attitude (β=0.26, p = 0.015) and subjective norm (β = 0.22, p = 0.047) were positively associated with mothers’ intention to provide IRF to their children. Together with sociodemographic variables, they explained 14% of its variance. Our findings revealed that mothers have a strong intention to provide IRF to their children. Although further assessments of this questionnaire are warranted in other contexts, this tool could provide information on potential determinants of mothers’ intention to provide IRF to children

116-120

Authors: Dipika Subba

Objectives: The study aims to assess the nutritional status of children aged 1-5 years and its relationship with gender. Further, it also tries to assess the nutritional status of children using conventional indices and the composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF) and suggests the appropriate method to estimate undernutrition among children. Materials and Methods: The area selected for the study is the tea gardens of Darjeeling. The study is based on the primary survey, and a total of 400 children were included in the study. A Chi-square test is conducted to find out the differences in the nutritional status of children gender-wise. Results: The analysis indicated that the level of undernutrition in tea gardens of Darjeeling is very high (51%). The level of undernutrition estimated through conventional indices indicated that the level of stunting, wasting, and underweight are 43.8%, 20.2%, and 36.2%, respectively, whereas the composite index of anthropometric failure estimated more prevalence rate (51.2%). The analysis indicates that the conventional indices underestimate the prevalence of undernutrition. On the contrary, a composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF) gives better estimates of undernutrition. Both the indices of nutrition in the study area indicated higher undernutrition among girl children than a boy. However, no significant differences in the nutritional status gender-wise exist. Conclusion: The result depicts the positive sign as it contradicts the general belief that a boy child is more nourished than a girl. However, half of the children in tea gardens of Darjeeling aged 1-5 years, irrespective of gender, are undernourished. The paper highlights the urgent need to work out nutritional strategies to improve child health in the study area.