The Contribution of adolescent motherhood to malnutrition in children aged 6 to 23 months in Kampala district, a case of Kisenyi.
Abstract
Malnutrition in early childhood continues to have diverse serious consequences especially to the
child’s life, survival and long-term well-being.
This study investigated the contribution of adolescent motherhood to malnutrition in children
aged 6 to 23 months in Kampala district, Kisenyi suburb using the cross-sectional method. The
data was collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire
Key findings indicated that majority of adolescent mothers (58%) were knowledgeable about the
recommended Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, 26.6% had good attitudes and
practices towards IYCF. The prevalence of wasting was 26.6% and 42.0% among children and
mothers respectively. The prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) was 32.9% among children
and 4.9% among mothers. Furthermore, iron-deficiency Anemia (IDA) was prevalent in 65.7% of
children and 44.1% of mothers. In a bivariate analysis relating food diversity and occurrence of
VAD in children, the Pearson correlation coefficient was r = 0.253 and p = 0.002. The analysis
revealed that the correlation between food diversity and presence of VAD in children was
statistically significant (p<0.01) hence strongly positive
The observed high prevalence of malnutrition among adolescent mothers and their children
highlights the necessity of interventions focusing on the education and support of adolescent
mothers since KAPs had a strong negative correlation with the occurrence of malnutrition in this
study.