Nutritional Status And Anaemia Prevalence, Malaria And Helminths Infestations Levels Among Children Aged 6-23 Months In Peri-Urban Communities In Accra

Abstract

Background and objective: The first two years of life is very critical. Children especially those under two years are vulnerable to stunting, wasting, and anaemia. However, information on these growth indices in peri-urban areas are scanty. In this study, we examined the nutritional status, anaemia prevalence, malaria and helminthes infestation levels among children aged 6 to 23 months old living in peri-urban areas in the La-Nkwantanang-Madina Metropolitan Assembly (LaNMMA) area. Methodology: The study was cross-sectional. A one-time-point data was collected which involved 268 child/ mother (key caregiver) pairs from five peri-urban communities. A semistructured questionnaire was used to interview mothers with children aged 6 to 23 months old about socio-demographic characteristics, dietary intakes and breastfeeding patterns. The weight, recumbent length and mid-upper arm circumferences (MUAC) of the children were taken using procedures specified by the World Health Organization (WHO). Five millilitres of blood samples were collected to determine haemoglobin (Hb) levels and malaria infection. Stool samples were also collected to determine helminth infestations. The anthropometric indices were converted to z-scores with the help of WHO Anthro software. The data were summarized through descriptive statistics. Crude binary logistic regression was employed to check for associations and the logistic regression model was employed to control and determine factors that predicted anaemia, wasting, stunting and underweight in lined with the objectives of the study. Results: Anaemia prevalence among the study children was 85.1% with 2% being severely anaemic. However, stunting, wasting and underweight prevalence were relatively low; 9.0%, 8.2% and 10.1% respectively. About 1.5% of the study participants were infected with malaria and no helminthic infestation was detected. Colostrum, eating or drinking something else apart from breast milk during the first three days after delivery, start month on complementary feeding, food made from vitamin A-rich dark green leafy vegetables, food made from oil, fat, or butter, red palm oil, palm nut soup/ sauce and number of times a child received solids, semisolids, or soft foods during the day/ night significantly predicted anaemia (p<0.05). Mothers who were part time workers, sex of child, initiation of breastfeeding, breastfeeding duration and households salt used predicted wasting. Conclusion: Very high anaemia prevalence was found in this study. Efforts to prevent increased anaemia prevalence especially in rural and peri-urban settings and to improve the nutritional status of young children are warranted.