Factors influencing Vitamin A supplementation among mothers of children under five years old at Mbagathi District Hospital, Kenya

Background: Vitamin A supplementation is one of the best-proven and most costeffective interventions to improve vitamin A status and save children’s lives.Objective: To assess factors affecting practices and utilisation of Vitamin Asupplementation services among mothers with children below five years attending Mbagathi District Hospital.Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.Setting: Mbagathi District Hospital (MDH) Maternal and Child Health Clinic (MCH) and Paediatric Out Patient Department (POPD).Subjects: Mothers attending MDH MCH and POPD.Main Outcome Measures: Utilisation, Practices and Awareness of vitamin Asupplementation (VAS)Results: A total of one hundred and fifty eight respondents were interviewed. About a half (52%) of the respondents had their children up to date with VAS while less than a half (43%) of the mothers had received vitamin A after delivery. Three quarters of the respondents’ children had missed the vitamin A capsule because they were either not aware of schedule (41%) or had stopped coming to clinic (35%). This notwithstanding, 91% of the respondents neither encountered any problems when seeking VAS services nor had negative beliefs or superstitions about vitamin A.Conclusion: The main factors affecting utilisation of VAS services was lack of information and awareness among both health workers and mothers. These services are averagely well utilised at MDH though still below the National 80% coverage target

Growth and Nutritional Status of the First Six Months of Life Among Selected Hospitals- Nairobi Province

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding for infants is recommended for the first six months for optimal health, development and growth. However, there is limited data on infant feeding practices and nutrition status of infants in Nairobi.Objective: To assess infant growth and nutritional status and compare with feeding practices in the first six months of life in selected hospitals, Nairobi Province.Design: Prospective cohort designSetting: Five major hospitals in Nairobi namely; The Aga Khan, Pumwani Maternity, Mater Misercordiae, St Mary’s Langata and Jamaa Hospitals.Subjects: A sample of 692 mother-infant pairs were recruited at birth and followed up until six months.Intervention: There was no direct experimental intervention, but there was observation of infant feeding practices, weight and height measurement was recorded every four weeks and determination of nutrition status of the infants for a period of six months.Main Outcome Measures: Nutritional status and infant feeding practices in the first six months.Results: Slightly more than half (58.8%) of the mothers were formally employed and the rest were self employed. The mean age of the mothers was 28.3 ±4.9 years. The mean income was KES 26,360 ± 34,696. The mean birth weight of infants was 3.24 ±0.43kg and 53.3% of all infants were male. Above 80% of infants were within normal weight based on weight for age Z-scores (WAZ) at 6, 10, 14 and 23 weeks. The prevalence of overweight based on WAZ was 9.5%, 11.6%, 11.9% and 11% at 6, 14, 19 and 23 weeks, respectively. There were no significant (P>0.05) differences in WAZ between infants on different feeding methods.Conclusions: There was no significant difference in weight or length gain among children that were fully breastfed in comparison to those who were given infant formula or had mixed feeding. However, there was concern over the proportion of overweight infants, as the condition may lead to long term health problems

Using Magnetically Responsive Tea Waste to Remove Lead in Waters under Environmentally Relevant Conditions

We report the use of a simple yet highly effective magnetite-waste tea composite to remove lead(II) (Pb[superscript 2+]) ions from water. Magnetite-waste tea composites were dispersed in four different types of water–deionized (DI), artificial rainwater, artificial groundwater and artificial freshwater–that mimic actual environmental conditions. The water samples had varying initial concentrations (0.16–5.55 ppm) of Pb[superscript 2+] ions and were mixed with the magnetite-waste tea composite for at least 24 hours to allow adsorption of the Pb[superscript 2+] ions to reach equilibrium. The magnetite-waste tea composites were stable in all the water samples for at least 3 months and could be easily removed from the aqueous media via the use of permanent magnets. We detected no significant leaching of iron (Fe) ions into the water from the magnetite-waste tea composites. The percentage of Pb adsorbed onto the magnetite-waste tea composite ranged from ~70% to 100%; the composites were as effective as activated carbon (AC) in removing the Pb[superscript 2+] ions from water, depending on the initial Pb concentration. Our prepared magnetite-waste tea composites show promise as a green, inexpensive and highly effective sorbent for removal of Pb in water under environmentally realistic conditions.SUTD-MIT International Design Center (Research Grant IDG11200105/IDD11200109)Singapore-MIT Allianc

Genetic Enhancement Perspectives and Prospects for Grain Nutrients Density

Diet-induced micronutrient malnutrition continues to be a major challenge globally, especially in the developing world. With the ever-increasing population, it becomes a daunting task to feed millions of mouths with nutritious food. It is time to reorient agricultural systems to produce quality food to supply the calorie and nutrient requirements needed by the human body. Biofortification is the process of improving micronutrients density by genetic means. It is cheaper and sustainable and complements well with the nutrient supplementation and fortification— the short-term strategies that are currently deployed to address the micronutrient malnutrition. Sorghum is one of the important food crops globally, adapted to semi-arid tropics, and there is increased awareness on its nutritional importance. Further, there is great opportunity to improve sorghum for nutritional quality. This chapter deals about the genetic enhancement perspectives and prospects for improving the nutritional quality with main emphasis on grain micronutrient density in sorghum

Vitamin A supplementation awareness among mothers of children under five years old at Mbagathi District Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.

Background: Vitamin A deficiency is one of the leading micro-nutrient deficiencies of public health importance in Kenya. Provision of vitamin A supplements every six months is an inexpensive, safe, quick and effective way to improve vitamin A status and save children's lives.Objectives: To determine vitamin A supplementation awareness, attitudes and beliefs among mothers of children under five years old attending Mbagathi District Hospital.Methods:Design: Cross sectional study.Setting: Mbagathi District Hospital (MDH) Maternal and Child Health Clinic (MCH) and Paediatric Out Patient Department (POPD).Participants: Mothers attending MDH MCH and POPD.Data collection: Both quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.Sampling: A systematic random sampling where every alternate client was recruited and questionnaires administered to make 158 respondents. Key informants were purposively chosen for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.Results: Ninety four percent of the respondents reported having heard about vitamin A, major source of information being the health worker (82%). While 58% of the respondents were aware that the recommended schedule for VAS for children is every 6 months, almost half (49%) of respondents were aware vitamin A was given to mothers. Most of the respondents were positive and supportive of VAS. There were no negative beliefs or attitudes mentioned. However, majority (66%) had never discussed about Vitamin A with other mothers / people. Only 18% of the respondents believed VAD was associated with eye problems/blindness. Most mothers did not believe there was a specific consequence of VAD. Majority (64%) of the respondents did not believe there were any possible hindrances to taking their children for VAS.Conclusion: Mothers were positive and supportive of VAS, major source of information being the health worker but there was lack of information and awareness among both health workers and mothers

Prevalence and potential for aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts and peanut butter from farmers and traders in Nairobi and Nyanza provinces of Kenya

Objective: Most of the peanut butter marketed in Nairobi is processed in cottage industry and its aflatoxin contamination status has not been documented. This study was therefore conducted to determine the status of aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts and peanut butter in Nairobi and Nyanza. Methodology and results: Eighty two fresh samples comprising raw and roasted groundnuts and peanut butter were obtained from market outlets and cottage processors in Nairobi and Nyanza regions. The marketers and processors were asked for information on the source of groundnuts. The incidence of Aspergillus section Flavi was determined using standard laboratory methods. Defective nuts in raw groundnuts were determined by manual sorting. Aflatoxin analysis was done using competitive ELISA technique. Groundnuts in Nairobi were imported from Malawi while those Nyanza were grown in the region. The fungal species isolated from the samples were: Aspergillus flavus (L and S strains), A. parasiticus, A. niger, A. tamari, A. alliaceus, A. caeletus and Penicillium spp. The percentage of defective nuts among all unsorted groundnuts ranged from 0.0% to 26.3%. The mean percent defective nuts was higher for Nairobi samples than Nyanza. Aflatoxin levels in all samples ranged from 0 to 2377.1 μg/kg. The mean aflatoxin level was higher for raw samples from Nairobi than Nyanza. The source of groundnuts and defective nuts were positively associated with aflatoxin levels. Conclusions and application of findings: The source of groundnuts and presence of defective nuts were identified as the main factors influencing increased aflatoxin contamination in the cottage industry. Mechanisms for inspection and certification of imported groundnuts should be put in place accompanied by effective monitoring for compliance to set aflatoxins standards. All the market players should sort their groundnuts before selling or processing in order to reduce aflatoxin contamination of peanut butter. Key words: Aflatoxin, cottage industry, groundnut, peanut butter. J. Appl. Biosci. 201