title: Women's work in farming, child feeding practices and nutritional status among under-five children in rural Rukwa, Tanzania.
abstract: Some progress has been achieved in reducing the prevalence of undernutrition among children under 5 years of age in Tanzania. In the Rukwa region (2010), the level of stunted and underweight children was 50·4 and 13·5 %, respectively. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age, feeding practices and risk factors of undernutrition in a rural village in the Rukwa region, as well as to discuss the results in light of a similar study conducted in 1987/1988. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 152 households with children under 5 years of age. Data were obtained from the child's main caretaker and the household head, using a structured questionnaire and a 24 h dietary recall. Children's length/height and weight were measured. The prevalence of stunting and underweight was found to be 63·8 and 33·6 % (Z-score<-2 of WHO 2006 CGS), respectively. Sugar-water was given to 72·3 % of the children on the first day after birth. A thin gruel was introduced after a median of 2 months (25th-75th percentiles; 1-3). The time mothers spent farming was a significant risk factor for stunting (P=0·04). Illness, food shortage and dry-season cultivation were significant risk factors for underweight (P<0·01). Using the NCHS/WHO 1983 growth reference (<75 % of the median), the prevalence of underweight was 25·0 %, similar to that reported in 1987/1988 (26·4 %). In conclusion, the underweight prevalence was found to be at the same level in 2010 as was recorded in 1987/1988. Current child-feeding practices were not in line with WHO recommendations. Women working in farms, food shortage, dry-season cultivation and diseases partly explain the children's poor nutritional status.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Nutrition,University of Oslo,0317 Oslo,Norway.
authors.forename: Sunniva
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nordang
authors.affiliation: 2Department of Community Medicine,University of Oslo,0318 Oslo,Norway.
authors.forename: Tiransia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shoo
authors.affiliation: 2Department of Community Medicine,University of Oslo,0318 Oslo,Norway.
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Holmboe-Ottesen
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Food Science and Technology,Sokoine University of Agriculture,PO Box 3000 Chuo Kikuu,Morogoro,Tanzania.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kinabo
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Nutrition,University of Oslo,0317 Oslo,Norway.
authors.forename: Margareta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wandel
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D005248:Feeding Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology; D014931:Women, Working; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: Child-feeding practices; DDS Diet Diversity Score; Malnutrition; Tanzania; Undernutrition; Women working in farms