Effect of mother’s education on child’s nutritional status in the slums of Nairobi

Abstract

BackgroundMalnutrition continues to be a critical public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, in East Africa, 48 % of children under-five are stunted while 36 % are underweight. Poor health and poor nutrition are now more a characteristic of children living in the urban areas than of children in the rural areas. This is because the protective mechanism offered by the urban advantage in the past; that is, the health benefits that historically accrued to residents of cities as compared to residents in rural settings is being eroded due to increasing proportion of urban residents living in slum settings. This study sought to determine effect of mother’s education on child nutritional status of children living in slum settings.MethodsData are from a maternal and child health project nested within the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS). The study involves 5156 children aged 0–42 months. Data on nutritional status used were collected between October 2009 and January 2010. We used binomial and multiple logistic regression to estimate the effect of education in the univariable and multivariable models respectively.ResultsResults show that close to 40 % of children in the study are stunted. Maternal education is a strong predictor of child stunting with some minimal attenuation of the association by other factors at maternal, household and community level. Other factors including at child level: child birth weight and gender; maternal level: marital status, parity, pregnancy intentions, and health seeking behaviour; and household level: social economic status are also independently significantly associated with stunting.ConclusionOverall, mothers’ education persists as a strong predictor of child’s nutritional status in urban slum settings, even after controlling for other factors. Given that stunting is a strong predictor of human capital, emphasis on girl-child education may contribute to breaking the poverty cycle in urban poor settings.

Magnitude of Stunting and Associated Factors Among 6-59 Months Old Children in Hossana Town, Southern Ethiopia

“…Children whose mothers had no education were more likely to be stunted as compared to mother with educational status of above secondary. This finding was consistent to the study conducted in India [20], Tanzania [25], and Nairobi Kenya [26] and also in Ethiopia [9,28,29]. This might be due to mother who had no education had shortage of knowledge which related to better child feeding and caring, low income and low living conditions.…”

“…Children of 4 and above birth order were more likely to be stunted than children of first birth order. This finding was in line with the study conducted In Cambodia [22], Nairobi Kenya [26], and Egypt [18]. This might be due to family unable to satisfy child dietary and other health care related services because of more number of children and might also be due to low awareness of family planning.…”

“…The magnitude of stunting in this study was higher than study conducted in Peru 26.6% [14], Brazil 29.9% [15], Sirlanka 11.8% [16], South Africa 20.2% [17] and Egypt 13.8% [18] and the national prevalence in EDHS 2006, 29.8% [10] and EDHS done in 2011, 32% [9]. However, the prevalence of stunting in the study was lower than study conducted in, Nepal 37% [19], India 51.6% [20], Lao PDR 40% [21], Cambodia 38.6% [22] also the study conducted in Democratic Republic of Congo 43.9% [23] ,Uganda 41.6% [24], Tanzania 44% [25], Kenya 40% [26], Sudan Khartoum 51% [27] and Ethiopia 42% [28]. This difference might be due to population migration from rural to urban in order to get better job and living condition, decreased purchasing power of the community, increment of food prices, inappropriate infant and young child feeding practices and child health care.…”

Estado nutricional de vitaminas A e D em crianças participantes de programa de suplementação alimentar

“…Inúmeras pesquisas têm mostrado que existe uma forte relação entre a melhor condição socioeconômica, como a educação materna, e a saúde da criança, propiciando melhores cuidados preventivos (higiene, imunizações e alimentação) e curativos (manejo doméstico das doenças e busca precoce do atendimento) 58,59,60 .…”

Pengaruh Pendidikan Gizi Terhadap Pengetahuan Dan Praktik Membawa Bekal Menu Seimbang Anak Sekolah Dasar

“…Tingkat pendidikan sebagian besar orang tua adalah tamat SMA/ sederajat. Pendidikan ibu berkaitan erat dengan status gizi anak (Abuya, et al, 2012). Ibu memiliki peranan yang penting dalam menyediakan dan menyajikan makanan bagi keluarga, khususnya anak.…”