Stunting in children (0–59 months): what is the current trend in South Africa?

Dukhi, Natisha; Sartorius, Benn; Taylor, Myra

doi:10.1080/03004430.2016.1193501

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The incidence of stunting was noted in girls and boys between 48 and 60 months, with severe stunting being more pronounced among girls. The high prevalence of stunting in this study population is similar to other studies in South Africa [ 30 , 31 ]. While wasting was only observed in boys aged 48 to 60 months, the risk of overweight was high in all age groups, especially in girls between 48 and 60 months.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Nutritional Status of Children 24–60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Makanjana

Naicker

2020

IJERPH

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Despite the numerous efforts to improve the nutritional status of children, a high prevalence of malnutrition still exists in South Africa. This study aimed to determine the nutritional status of children attending Early Child Development centres in South Africa. In this baseline study, we randomly selected two Early Child Development centres comprising 116 children aged 24–60 months, separated into two cohorts, of 24–47 months and 48–60 months. Dietary intake was measured through the 24 hDR and analysed using Food Finder software. The food frequency questionnaire was used to calculate the food variety and food group diversity scores. Anthropometric measurements were taken and the WHO Anthro software was used to convert it to nutritional data indices. Blood samples were collected through dried blood spot cards in order to determine serum retinol and haemoglobin levels and they were assessed using WHO indicators. The findings showed that participants between 24 and 47 months had a high mean energy intake (4906.2 kJ and 4997.9 kJ for girls and boys, respectively). For the 48–60 months age group, energy intake was lower than the EER (5936.4 kJ and 5621.2 kJ; p = 0.038). There was low fruit and vegetable consumption (24–47 months; 63.8 g and 69.5 g (p = 0.037), 48–60 months; 68.3 g and 74.4 g (p = 0.038) and the top five foods consumed were carbohydrate rich foods for girls and boys, respectively. Stunting was noted in 7% and 20% (48–60 months) (p = 0.012) and overweight in 8% and 17% (24–47 months) and 17% and 13% (48–60 months) (p = 0.041) in girls and boys, respectively. Low serum retinol levels (<0.070 µmol/L) were found in 9.1% of boys (24–47 months), and 8% and 7.4% of girls and boys (48–60 months), respectively. Low haemoglobin levels (<11.0 g/dL) were found in 50.0% and 30.4% (24–47 months) and 8.6% and 39.3% (48–60 months) of girls and boys, respectively. Malnutrition, despite many national and provincial initiatives, still exists in Early Childhood Development centres in South Africa, calling for the application of contextualized nutrition interventions to suit resource-poor settings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Nutritional Status of Children 24–60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Makanjana

Naicker

2020

IJERPH

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“…The incidence of stunting was noted in girls and boys between 48-60 months, with severe stunting being more pronounced among girls. The high prevalence of stunting in this study population is similar to other studies in South Africa (26,27). While wasting was only observed in boys aged 48-60 months, the risk of overweight was high in all age groups, especially in girls between 48-60 months.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Nutritional Status of Children 24–60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Makanjana

Naicker

2020

Preprint

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Background: Despite the numerous efforts to improve the nutritional status of children, a high prevalence of malnutrition still exists in South Africa. This study aimed to determine the nutritional status of children attending Early Child Development centres in South Africa.Methods: In this baseline study, we randomly selected two Early Child Development centres comprising of 116 children aged 24–60 months, separated into two cohorts, 24–47 and 48–60 months from the Valley of a Thousand Hills area in the Ethekweni municipality. Dietary intake was measured through the 24hDR and analysed using Food Finder software. The food frequency questionnaire was used to calculate the food variety and food group diversity scores. Anthropometric measurements; weight and height were taken and the WHO Anthro software was used to convert it to nutritional data indices. Vitamin A and haemoglobin levels were collected through dry blood spot cards and assessed using WHO indicators.Results: The findings showed that participants had a low mean energy intake (24–47 months; 4906.2kJ and 4997.9kJ, 48–60 months; 5936.4kJ and 5621.2kJ (p = 0.038), low fruit and vegetable consumption (24–47 months; 63.8g and 69.5g (p = 0.037), 48–60 months; 68.3g and 74.4g (p = 0.038) and the top five foods consumed were carbohydrate rich foods for girls and boys respectively. Stunting was noted in 7% and 20% (48–60 months) (p = 0.012) and overweight in 8% and 17% (24–47 months) and 17% and 13 % (48–60 months) (p = 0.041) in girls and boys respectively. Low serum retinol levels (<0.070µmol/L) were found in 9.1% of boys (24–47 months), 8% and 7.4% of girls and boys (48–60 months). Low haemoglobin levels (<11.0 g/dL) were found in 50.0% and 30.4% (24–47 months) and 8.6% and 39.3% (48–60 months) of girls and boys respectively. Conclusion and recommendation: Malnutrition, despite many national and provincial initiatives, still exists at Early Childhood Development centres in South Africa calling for the application of contextualized nutrition interventions to suite resource-poor settings.

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“…Stunting has been measured in many South African surveys and a review in 2015 reported a decrease in the national prevalence, but recent studies continue to report high prevalence. 33,34 In KwaZulu-Natal a study in an adjacent district amongst children of the same age (4-6 years) reported a stunting prevalence of 21.1%, 35 while our study found 14.7%. Any level of stunting is a concern because the condition affects cognitive development and any deficit in early childhood has been shown to have long-term negative effects on school performance and on wage outcomes in adulthood.…”

Section: Factors Associated With Cognitive Outcomes and Differences Icontrasting

confidence: 57%

Association of anthropometric status and residential locality factors with cognitive scores of 4–6-year-old children in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Ajayi

Matthews

Taylor

et al. 2019

South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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Background: The Asenze study has the long-term goal of promoting better physical, cognitive and psychosocial functioning of children in a rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, 50 km from Durban, with a view to planning interventions to promote growth and development for very young children. The specific objective in this paper was to provide information for the Child Health and Development project of the Valley Trust to assist with intervention planning. The broader goal was to assess developmental delays in communities ravaged by the HIV epidemic. The Asenze study was designed in two phases from 2008 and 2012. The current paper reports on 1 581 4-6-year-old children in the baseline phase (2008-2010) in the five adjacent tribal areas in the study area. Method: The participants included all the 4-6-year-olds whose parents had consented to inclusion in the project and their caregivers. Data were derived from a brief questionnaire administered in the homes of participants, and subsequently from medical and psychological assessments of the children and their caregivers at the Asenze clinic. The association between child factors and other factors (geographic area, socioeconomic status (SES), parental level of education, the child's preschool education) on the one hand, and the child's cognitive performance (as measured by the Grover Counter and subtests of the KABC-11) were analysed. Linear regression models were employed to determine which predictor variables of interest in a model were associated with the children's cognitive scores as the dependent variables. Results: Based on the data, the principal factors associated with children's cognitive outcomes were height-forage z-score (HAZ), preschool education and the area of residence. Generally children who had low cognitive scores were more often stunted (as defined by the WHO anthropometric tables), had not had preschool education, and came from areas less favourable in terms of local infrastructure and access to employment opportunities and arable land. Conclusion: The finding from this cross-sectional analysis of baseline data showed that in addition to height for age and preschool education, which are commonly thought to impact on cognition, the local authority area where the children lived was associated with their scores on cognitive tests. This has implications for intervention planning. The functioning of local government in promoting the type of community development that will protect the rights of children should be taken into account.

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Stunting in children (0–59 months): what is the current trend in South Africa?

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Nutritional Status of Children 24–60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Nutritional Status of Children 24–60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Nutritional Status of Children 24–60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Association of anthropometric status and residential locality factors with cognitive scores of 4–6-year-old children in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

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