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.