Malnutrition in under five children in Turbhe stores urban slums in Navi Mumbai

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is a problem not only in rural area but also among the urban poor. Also, the urban poor are a neglected segment of population in terms of basic services and amenities. Nutrition in children is affected by various determinants including mother's level of knowledge, attitudes and practices. Hence, this study was conducted in an urban slum setting to understand the extent and determinants of malnutrition in children below five years of age. Aims & Objectives: The study objectives were to understand the knowledge, attitude and practices of mothers with respect to nutrition of their under five children and to measure the extent of malnutrition in the sample population of under five children. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study and data was collected on a sample of 300 children under five years and their mothers selected through cluster sampling technique in Turbhe stores urban slum community of Navi Mumbai. Using a semistructured interview schedule, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) on nutrition among mothers of these children were assessed and anthropometric measurements were taken. The study used the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for measuring malnutrition. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS, version 20. z score analysis for malnutrition assessment was done using the appropriate WHO software. Results: The knowledge levels of mothers regarding breast-feeding were mixed. Majority (88%) of the mothers were aware that only breast-feeding is required post-delivery, and duration of breast-feeding could be more than six months. there was a gap in knowledge about breast-feeding practice during infant illness. Only 9% of mothers had the correct knowledge to increase breast feeding if the infant was ill and 20% felt breast feeding should be decreased during illness of child. Mothers had very poor knowledge about nutritious food. The attitude score was created using the Likert scale with a minimum score of 16 and maximum score of 64. The mean attitude score was 54.29 with a standard deviation of 5.24. In terms of breast-feeding practices, 74 (24.6%) mothers did not initiate breast-feeding within one hour of birth, and only 21 (7%) mothers increased breast feed frequency during illness of child. Conclusion: The study found gaps in knowledge about breast-feeding practices among mothers and very poor practices related to adequate nutrition for children. Stunting was seen in more than 50 % of children. However, the mothers had a very positive overall attitude about improving nutrition of their children and were willing to learn about it. This provides an opportunity for a targeted intervention among the mothers of these children in the community.

Stillbirth and infant death: mental health among low-income mothers in Mumbai

“…Those who had poorer mental health self-selected themselves as interested in further supports provided by a future intervention. These additional strengths in our participants are similar to the positive attitudes and willingness to learn noted in slum-dwelling mothers in another study [ 27 ].…”

“…While residents are hard-working, optimistic people, they are plagued by poverty and many other social determinants of health that negatively affect health outcomes. For example, stunting has been noted in 50% of the children in one area of the slum [ 27 ].…”

Breastfeeding Practices in Rural Field Practice Area of a Government Medical College in Northern India

“…Better results were reported in NFHS-4 (J and K), where 46% were breastfed within 1 h of birth. Another study conducted by Mukherjee et al [11] in India reported that 75.5% of the mothers started breastfeeding within 1 h which is similar as reported in our study. Similar observations were found in studies conducted by Shah et al [8], Bentley et al [12], Akorede et al [13], and Ghosh and Shah [14].…”

Undernutrition and associated factors among children aged 6–59 months living in slum areas of Gondar city, northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

“… 14 But the prevalence seen in this study was higher than in studies conducted in other countries, such as Bangladesh (19.5%), 32 Iran (9.53%) 33 and India (30.3%). 34 The discrepancy may be due to the difference in study settings and subjects. In this study, most of the mothers were uneducated.…”