Socio-Demographic Factors Influencing Nutritional Status of Children (6-59 Months) in Obunga Slums, Kisumu City, Kenya

摘要

Background: Poor nutrition remains a direct critical factor in child mortality in Africa. A lot of focus has been given to the rural population as poverty setting. However, urban slums display more serious poverty conditions which manifest in poor stunting rates, yet this has been ignored in the realm of scientific writing. This study explored the socio-demographic factors in relation to nutritional status indices mainly stunting, wasting and underweight. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted within Urban Slums using cross-sectional analytical design using a sample of 400 eligible households from total eligible households within the slum. Data was collected using structured questions and analysis done using descriptive and inferential statistics mainly odds ratio. Results: The results show strong association between income and stunting (OR=0.47; CI=0.24-0.91) and underweight (OR=0.44; CI=0.22-0.92). Wasting was strongly associated with Age of the mother (OR=1.07; CI=1.01-1.33) and mother’s education (OR=0.34; CI=0.14-0.83). Religion and sex of the child were ruled out based on the analysis outcome. Conclusions: These results may explain social perspective of nutritional status and suggest two critical factors that interventions should give much attention in order to ensure well being. Income, mother’s age and mother’s education are very critical in child health interventions. However, there is need to continue establishing new perspective of social components within similar settings beyond the boundary of Obung a.