Study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool Aged Children of Kaski District of Nepal

Abstract

Undernutrition remains a key public health burden in Nepal. This study aimed to measure knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about nutritious food amongst mothers of 3 – 5-year-olds from rural and urban areas. A cross-sectional mixed-methods approach comprised a quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups. The community-based survey included 524 mothers of children who are no longer breastfed. Open-ended and structured questions investigated knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about nutritious food, child feeding patterns, and major barriers, food insecurity, and health-seeking behaviours. Focus groups were held with key informants, a thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data. Results: Major barriers to recommending nutritious foods included: lack of knowledge (19%); cost (21%); and culture/beliefs (7%). Nearly 55% children were given fruit once a week. Almost 37% of mothers never gave meat, fish and egg regularly to their children and 34% did not choose healthy food from stores, and 12% lacked food. Most children (57%) had been taken at least once to a spiritual healer and 16% had been taken more than once. The qualitative analysis suggested that important factors of knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about healthy diet are poverty, education, strong cultural beliefs, family size, household income, time and a growing preference for fast food. Conclusion: Knowledge of and attitudes towards nutritious food is still poor. Beliefs about food practice are strongly embedded in Nepal. Thus, this study shows that policymakers should consider a public health intervention and approach based around changing these largely cultural beliefs and behaviours.

Risk Factors of Stunting and Wasting among Children Aged 6–59 Months in Household Food Insecurity of Jima Geneti District, Western Oromia, Ethiopia: An Observational Study

“…In Ethiopia, it has been reported that the prevalence of stunting and wasting was 37% and 7%, respectively [ 3 ]. Undernutrition causes morbidity and mortality among children, and food insecurity is more prevalent [ 4 ]. Its high rates may also pose a significant obstacle to achieving better child health and nutritional outcomes [ 5 ].…”

Effect of maternal employment on child nutritional status in Bale Robe Town, Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional analysis

“…Household food insecurity (HFI) was measured using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIA), which has nine questions and is related to the households’ experience of food insecurity in the 12 months preceding the survey ( 29 ) . Then, the HFIA prevalence indicators were categorised households into four ( 30 ) levels of HFI: food secure, mild, moderately and severely food insecure. For the present study, only two levels other Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (food secure and insecure) was used because the sample size for this study was small ( 31 ) .…”

Therapeutic Food Development from Maize Grains, Pulses, and Cooking Banana Fruits for the Prevention of Severe Acute Malnutrition

“…The short- and long-term consequences of severe acute malnutrition are associated with morbidity and mortality [ 2 , 3 ]. High rates of severe acute malnutrition can also lead to poor child health and nutritional outcomes [ 4 ]. Globally, about 16.4 million children under five years of age were affected by severe acute malnutrition [ 5 , 6 ], and out of whom, 23% accessed ready-to-use therapeutic foods.…”