Influence of childcare practices on nutritional status of Ghanaian children: a regression analysis of the Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys

Abstract

ObjectivesGuided by the UNICEF framework for childcare, this study examined the association of childcare practices (CCP) with infant and young children's growth (height-for-age Z-scores, HAZ), and investigated whether care practices are more important to growth in some sociodemographic subgroups of children.DesignCross-sectional survey.SettingUrban and rural Ghana.ParticipantsThe study sample comprised 1187 dyads of mothers aged 15–49 years and their youngest child (aged 6–36 months).ResultsThe results showed that CCP was a significant predictor of HAZ, after controlling for covariates/confounders at child, maternal and household levels. Children with higher CCP scores had higher HAZ. A 1-unit increase in the CCP score was associated with a 0.17-unit increase in HAZ. Child's and mother's age, number of children under 5 years, place of residence, maternal weight and wealth index were also significantly associated with HAZ. Statistical interaction analyses revealed no subgroup differences in the CCP/HAZ relationship.ConclusionsThis study found a significant, positive association between CCP and child growth, after accounting for other important determinants of child growth at maternal and household levels. This calls for research into the effects on growth of various CCP components, with longitudinal cohort study designs that can disentangle causal relationships.

Resources for nurturing childcare practices in urban and rural settings: Findings from the Colombia 2010 Demographic and Health Survey

“…A small literature has explored various ways to approach the development of NC indexes, either through care-domain-specific indexes (Armar-Klemesu, Ruel, Maxwell, Levin, & Morris, 2000;Garg & Chadha, 2009) or more complex indexes combining care domains (Amugsi, Mittelmark, Lartey, Matanda, & Urke, 2014;Nti & Lartey, 2008;Osorio, Bolancé, & Alca iz, 2013;Osorio, Bolancé, & Madise, 2015;Ruel et al, 1999). Armar-Klemesu et al (2000), Amugsi et al (2014), Nti and Lartey (2008), and Ruel et al (1999) all used one or more care indexes in their studies of determinants of childcare (Armar-Klemesu et al, 2000;Peter & Kumar, 2014), or care as a determinant of child nutrition (Amugsi et al, 2014;Moursi et al, 2008;Nti & Lartey, 2008;Ruel et al, 1999). Armar-Klemesu et al (2000) constructed separate feeding, preventive health seeking, and hygiene practice indexes.…”

“…Armar-Klemesu et al (2000) constructed separate feeding, preventive health seeking, and hygiene practice indexes. Amugsi et al (2014) and Ruel et al (1999) combined diet and prevention service use into one childcare index, and Nti and Lartey (2008) included in one index a wide range of care practices, comprising household and personal hygiene, immunization status, dietary diversity, caregiver responsiveness, and hygiene practices during feeding. Engle et al (2000) further advanced childcare measurement by including the role of socioemotional care as a key component.…”

Child Malnutrition, Consumption Growth, Maternal Care and Price Shocks

“…We estimate this model on a particularly unique population -namely children in households with pregnant women or women with infants. Our data allows us to draw on a rich number of indicators to estimate this frameworkunlike previous work in Ghana, which relied on GLSS or DHS data, lacking many key indicators (Alderman, 1990, Amugsi et al, 2014, Van de Poel et al, 2007, or on a relatively small amount of data (Nti andLartey, 2008, Ruel et al, 1999).…”

Socio-economic factors and child health status in Ghana

“…Amugsi et al (2015) among other findings revealed older children to have a higher risk of getting cough and diarrhoea relative to younger children in Ghana. Amugsi, Mittelmark, Lartey, Matanda, and Urke (2014) revealed that maternal weight, the number of children less than five years, place of residence and wealth index, child's age and mother's age to be immensely linked with height-for-age Z-scores (Children's Growth) in Ghana. Borbor, Kumi-Kyereme, Yendaw and Adu-Opong (2014) revealed that, younger children, children from poor households, with higher household size, with lesser paternal and maternal education, with younger mothers and from a rural area were more likely to have anaemia.…”