Objectives: The aim of the study is to evaluate the use of local flours in supplementary feeding for 6 to 24 month old children in relation to their nutritional status in Abidjan.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 480 mother-child couples in twelve maternal and child protection centers located in four municipalities in Abidjan. Questionnaires focused on the economic characteristics of mothers, the frequency of use of local flours, sources of local flours, ingredients used for flour production. The local composite flours mainly consumed by the children were sampled for biochemical analysis.Results: Our of the 480 mothers, 73% had an income-generating activity and 27% had no activity, 10% of them were students. About 13% of the mothers with income-generating activities use only local flours, 10% of them mainly use industrial flours and 50% alternately use local flours and industrial flours. All mothers used cereals for flour production, 1% of the mothers used cassava and 98.54% used soya flour as supplement. The local flour mainly consumed, "Anango baka" with two variants, was unbalanced as far as its nutrient composition is concerned. The nutritional status of the children surveyed showed that stunting was the most widespread form of malnutrition with a prevalence of 17.9%.
Conclusion:The three local composite flours used by the mothers showed a poor nutritional value. A high rate of chronic malnutrition has been reported for 6 to 24 month old children visiting maternal and child protection centers located in Abidjan.
Aims: This study constitutes the first approach to a food program. It was carried out in order to make up a useful database for a nutritional intervention by evaluating the level and practices of consumption of cassava semolina (Attiéké) among school children in rural communities.
Study Design: This study was conducted from May 14 to 21, 2021 in elementary school in six villages in an area of Côte d'Ivoire that previously had a high incidence of childhood anemia.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey collected data from first- to sixth-grade school children and aged from five to fifteen years (n = 460). Children provided data on their cassava semolina consumption in response to individual structured interviews conducted in their elementary schools and in the presence of one of their parents.
Results: The results suggest that cassava semolina is an accessible, familiar and acceptable vehicle for food fortification to overcome nutritional deficits in children in this area. Cassava semolina is available throughout the year in this area. Children consumed an average of 95.5 g/day of cassava semolina and over three quarters of them (88.5%) had consumed this food on at least one day during the week prior to the survey. Cassava semolina was most often eaten for the midday meal (77.2%) in combination with fish (86.3%) and/or vegetables (79.1%). Finally, although cassava can be grown in this area, most children’s families (75.9%) purchased processed cassava semolina.
Conclusion: The fortification of semolina would have high penetration in the population. However, the survey also identified a major challenge to using cassava semolina as a vehicle for micronutrient fortification. This is the shelf life of fresh cassava semolina, which is only 3 to 4 days in the absence of refrigeration.
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