scholarly journals Maternal and child nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa: challenges and interventions

2008 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lartey
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
African Women ◽  
Zn Deficiency ◽  
Maternal Malnutrition ◽  
Maternal Nutritional Status ◽  
Infants And Young Children

Women of child-bearing age (especially pregnant and lactating women), infants and young children are in the most nutritionally-vulnerable stages of the life cycle. Maternal malnutrition is a major predisposing factor for morbidity and mortality among African women. The causes include inadequate food intake, poor nutritional quality of diets, frequent infections and short inter-pregnancy intervals. Evidence for maternal malnutrition is provided by the fact that between 5 and 20% of African women have a low BMI as a result of chronic hunger. Across the continent the prevalence of anaemia ranges from 21 to 80%, with similarly high values for both vitamin A and Zn deficiency levels. Another challenge is the high rates of HIV infection, which compromise maternal nutritional status. The consequences of poor maternal nutritional status are reflected in low pregnancy weight gain and high infant and maternal morbidity and mortality. Suboptimal infant feeding practices, poor quality of complementary foods, frequent infections and micronutrient deficiencies have largely contributed to the high mortality among infants and young children in the region. Feeding children whose mothers are infected with HIV continues to remain an issue requiring urgent attention. There are successful interventions to improve the nutrition of mothers, infants and young children, which will be addressed. Interventions to improve the nutrition of infants and young children, particularly in relation to the improvement of micronutrient intakes of young children, will be discussed. The recent release by WHO of new international growth standards for assessing the growth and nutritional status of children provides the tool for early detection of growth faltering and for appropriate intervention.

Quality of Antenatal, Labour and Delivery Services in Selected Districts in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Clara Opha Haruzivishe
Keyword(s):  
Perinatal Care ◽  
Neonatal Morbidity ◽  
Health Facilities ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
World Health ◽  
Performance Standard ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Care Services

Background: High Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Ratios persist in Sub-Saharan Africa despite increasing perinatal care coverage. This suggests that coverage alone is not adequate to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Quality of care should be the emphasis of maternal and child care services. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional multicentre study was conducted in selected health facilities in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe using purposive sampling. A World Health Organization-WHO 2016 Quality of Maternal and New-born assessment Framework and the WHO (2015) Service Availability and Readiness Assessment tool were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) version 24.0. Results: Less than 43% of the health facilities satisfied at least three of the five Performance Standards of availability and adequacy of Antenatal infrastructure and supplies. Regarding Antenatal processes/care, an observation was the most common performance standard satisfied by 70.6% of all health facilities assessed while less than 30% fulfilled all other standards. Only 57.1% of the health facilities satisfied 5 of the 11 standards for labour and delivery infrastructure, while only 55.6% of the Health facilities satisfied only two of the 13 standards of Labour and delivery care. Conclusion: To achieve a significant and sustainable reduction in maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, there is a need for investment and improvement in maternity care services infrastructure and processes as opposed to focusing on mere attendance of Antenatal, and deliveries by trained birth attendants.

The Bowel Cocktail

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 920-921
Author(s):  
M. D. Bowie ◽  
M. D. Mann ◽  
I. D. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Diarrheal Disease ◽  
Socioeconomic Conditions ◽  
Vicious Cycle ◽  
Present Position ◽  
Infectious Diarrhea ◽  
Electrolyte Loss ◽  
Infants And Young Children

Infantile gastroenteritis or infectious diarrhea of infancy remains a serious pediatric problem worldwide. It has been estimated that during 1975 500 million episodes of diarrhea occurred among the babies and young children of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, killing between 5 million and 18 million of them.1 Only improvements in the socioeconomic conditions, housing, education, and nutritional status of these communities will result in diarrheal disease receding from its present position as the major cause of death of infants and young children. In the interim an attempt must be made to reduce the high mortality which is due firstly, in the acute phase, to water and electrolyte loss and secondly, in the later stages, to the diarrhea leading to further debility, malnutrition, and the well-known vicious cycle of undernutrition and gastroenteritis.

scholarly journals Effect of infection on energy requirements of infants and children

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (7a) ◽  
pp. 1187-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cutberto Garza
Keyword(s):  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Severity Of Illness ◽  
Energy Requirements ◽  
Nutritional Adequacy ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Infants And Young Children ◽  
Quantitative Nature

AbstractThis is a brief review of the effects of infection and other forms of stress on the energy needs of infants and young children. The results of studies estimating energy expenditure in infants and young children during illness and convalescence were evaluated. Expectations that energy expenditure is influenced by the severity of illness, nutritional status, the nature of the illness, the presence and intensity of ‘catch-up growth,’ and the stage of convalescence are generally supported by the literature. The qualitative or quantitative nature of responses, however, are not uniform for diverse illnesses in children in diverse planes of nutritional adequacy.

scholarly journals Female Nutritional Status across the Life-Span in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2. Causes and Consequences

1997 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Joanne Leslie ◽  
Suzanne Bibi Essama ◽  
Elizabeth Ciemins
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Women ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Nutritional Deprivation ◽  
Child Bearing ◽  
Adaptive Mechanisms ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Intensive Work

This article reviews existing data concerning the causes and consequences of female malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa. As in most parts of the world, the primary cause of female malnutrition is household food insecurity compounded by low household and individual incomes. Gender-specific factors that further undermine women's nutritional status are the severe physiological burden of frequent child-bearing and the continuous long hours of energy-intensive work. Negative consequences of malnutrition among females include high rates of mortality and morbidity, impaired learning, low birthweights, and reduced energy for discretionary activities. We question the conclusion of other studies that African women have developed special “adaptive mechanisms” to compensate for nutritional deprivation, and recommend that further research investigate the hidden individual and societal costs of malnutrition among women.

scholarly journals Macrolevel Approaches to Improve the Availability of Complementary Foods

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chessa K. Lutter
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Complementary Foods ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Infants And Young Children

Large numbers of infants and young children suffer from the short- and long-term health effects of poor breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. Strategies to improve the availability of and access to low-cost fortified complementary foods can play an important corresponding role to that of behavior change in improving nutritional status of young children. However, the nutritional quality of complementary foods used in publicly funded programs is not always optimal, and such programs are costly and reach only a tiny fraction of those who could benefit. To broadly reach the target population, such foods need to be commercially available at affordable prices and promoted in a way that generates demand for their purchase. A sensible long-term policy for the promotion of low-cost fortified complementary foods calls for attention to their nutritional formulations and cost, the economics of production, and the legislative, regulatory, and competitive framework in which marketing occurs. This paper provides information on how to improve the nutritional formulations of fortified complementary foods and outlines the necessary conditions for a market approach to their production and promotion.

Early Death: Mortality among Young Children in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen A. Condran ◽  
Harold R. Lentzner
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Young Children ◽  
York City ◽  
Early Death ◽  
Infant Feeding Practices ◽  
Summer Mortality ◽  
Quality Of Milk ◽  
Infants And Young Children

The high mortality of nineteenth-century cities included excess summer mortality among infants and young children. Data from New York City, New Or-leans, and Chicago from 1870 to 1917 and earlier data from New York City permit an examination of this high summer mortality and its decline during the early twentieth century in relation to changes in infant feeding practices, sanitation projects to improve water supplies and methods of waste disposal, and efforts to improve the quality of milk.

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