MALNUTRITION PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE

Abideen, A.  Adekanmi1*, Cole, Alice Temitope2
Page No. 17-33

Childhood malnutrition is brought on by inadequate food intake, infections like diarrhea and other bugs, a lack of cleanliness, and uneducated parents. Poor diets and disease are caused by food instability, inadequate mother-and-child care, poor health services, and the environment (UNAC 1997). In the Ilaje, Bariga, and Shomolu Local Government Areas of Lagos State, Nigeria, malnutrition in children under the age of five was examined, along with its prevalence and risk factors. Data gathering utilized a well-structured questionnaire that was well-designed. The respondents received the questionnaire. The respondents distributed, collected, and examined a total of 133 questionnaires. To investigate participant characteristics and give answers to the study's research objectives, the descriptive analysis, frequency, average, and percentage were used. This result revealed that the prevalence of child malnutrition (wasting, stunting, and underweight) was a significant public health issue in the pastoral community, according to the WHO classification for public health relevance. The current study discovered that underweight, stunting, and wasting were all common in the area under investigation. The study advised family planning, vaccination against diarrheal diseases, prevention of diarrhoeal infections, and access to nutrition education programs as ways to improve children's nutritional status. Given the quantitative nature of this study, it is recommended that researchers employ a mixed-method research study design in subsequent investigations to examine the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable of moderate malnutrition.
Keywords: Malnutrition, Family Planning, Preventing Diarrhoeal Diseases, Wasting, Stunting, And Underweight.