Nutrition Education of Mothers and Zinc Supplementation among Children in the Rural Community, Cameroon

Abstract

Aims: Malnutrition among children, especially stunting is a public health problem in Cameroon. This study assesses the impact of zinc supplementation of children and nutrition education of mothers on the nutritional status of the children in the Bangang rural community.
 Study Design: This was a descriptive and prospective study.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study took place in the Bangang community in the Region of West Cameroon, during the period from March to December 2015.
 Methodology: The children aged 6 to 48 months and mothers aged 20 to 34 years were selected after the baseline survey and enrolled. Dietary surveys were used to evaluate the frequency of foods consumed by 150 children. Zinc supplementation group of children (ZSG, n= 25) received 10 mg of zinc sulfate tablets per day for 14 days and control group (CG, n=25) was formed by children whose mothers received nutrition counseling. The nutrition education sessions organized into 4 modules were conducted quarterly for 9 months on a sample of 100 mothers. After interventions, impact of zinc supplementation and maternal education was assessed by determining height for age and weight for age indices, and biochemistry parameters.
 Results: The results showed that zincemia of ZSG varied significantly (P = .0001) and not significantly (P = .23) for CG. After nutrition education, dietary diversity was improved; reduction of chronic malnutrition (10.9%) and increasing number of children with good nutritional status (6.6%) were observed. Increased for phosphoremia (3.6 ± 2.4 to 5.7 ± 1.8 mg/dl; P = .001) and albuminemia (34.8 ± 15.5 to 46.9 ± 8.9 g/l; P = .002) were significant which was not the case of calcemia, zincemia, magnesemia and serum iron.
 Conclusion: This study showed positive impact of zinc supplementation and maternal education on the nutritional status of children.

Determinants of underweight among children aged 0–23 months in Tanzania

“…Other studies suggest a significant association between being underweight and consanguinity, late initiation of breastfeeding, dietary diversity, inadequate food intake, frequency of feeding, and poor complimentary food (Hasnain & Hashmi, 2009; Asfaw et al., 2015 and Idris et al., 2012). Also, the mother's BMI, gender of family's head, family size, and maternal age correlate with being underweight for a child (Nyaruhucha et al., 2006; Nolla et al., 2014 and Sapkota, 2009). Similarly, poor access to clean drinking water, type of resident (rural or urban), presence and use of toilets, hand washing habits, and episodes of diarrhea are associated with underweight in children under the age of five (Demilew & Abie, 2017; Yisak et al., 2015).…”