Wash practices assessment on the nutrition status of children under age five in Songwe region: A case study of Ileje District Council

The study aims to assess the effects of water, sanitation and hygiene practices on the nutrition status of children under five years in the Songwe region of Tanzania since malnutrition is still a big challenge in developing countries, particularly the Southern Highlands Zone which needs integrated measures to be addressed. Cross-sectional studies involving 110 children aged 0-59 months were assessed for Weight-for-Age, Height-for-Age and Weight-for-Height involving a structured questionnaire. Results showed that 47.27% were stunted, 27.27% were underweight while 16.36% were wasted and 53.63% of respondents did not participate in any community program. The study also revealed that 35.45% had pit latrines, 44.54% used communal pit latrines, 13.63% had flush toilet types and 6.36% did not have any kind of toilet. Lack of proper latrine increases the chances of getting infections such as worm infestation. 37.27% of respondents still use unimproved sources (River water, dams, ponds) and 65.45% of respondents use untreated water for drinking, cooking, and food preparation activities which increases disease incidences and infections. The presence of poor nutrition status of children under age five in the study sample was caused by poor childcare practices. These findings alert the Government starting from the local government level to use nutrition stakeholders to effectively influence mothers/caregivers to make healthy dietary practices

Nutritional value of grain and leafy Amaranth varieties grown in Tanzania

Amaranth leaves and seeds are highly nutritious, but less is clearly known for the varieties grown in Tanzania. Grains, leaves (dry and fresh) and flower part of amaranth were analyzed for minerals (iron, zinc, copper and manganese), proximate (crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre and carbohydrate) and anti-nutrients (nitrate and oxalate) content. Minerals were significantly higher (p<0.05) in fresh leafy varieties performing 75.89 mg/100 g, 3.284 mg/100 g and 34.869 mg/100 g for Amaranthus hypochondriacus (Nafaka), A. hypochondriacus (Lishe njano) and A. dubius (White local) respectively, with iron being significantly higher in dried leaves (284.384 mg/1000 g) of A. dubius (Bwasi jekundu). Protein, Fat and Fibre content is significantly higher in grains of amaranths indicating Crude protein (15.787%) in A. cruentus (Bwasi kijani), Crude Fibre (13.040% and 13.163%) in White local and Bwasi jekundu respectively that are not significantly different (p>0.05) and Crude Fat (9.273%) in Bwasi jekundu. Total Carbohydrate (78.743%) is significantly higher in dried Bwasi kijani. Anti-nutrient contents were significantly higher in dried compared to fresh leaf varieties, grain and amaranth flowers. Oxalate ranging from 378.5 to 360.3 mg/100 g and are not significantly different (p>0.05) within varieties, nitrate (137.06 μg/g) is significantly higher in A. hybridus (Lishe nyeupe) of dried leaves compared to fresh, grains and amaranth flower. Bwasi jekundu appears to be the best variety as dried leaves have the highest iron, since micronutrients are of more significance in leaves of vegetables than macro nutrients

Association between feeding patterns and nutritional status of the under five children (6-59 months) in Mtwara Rural District, Tanzania

This study was conducted to determine the association between feeding pattern and nutritional status of the under-five children in Mtwara rural district. Nutritional assessment information was collected using three survey tools: food frequency survey, 24 hours diet survey and anthropometric assessment survey. Anthropometric measures of weight and height were used to assess the nutritional status and WHO Anthro Plus was used to compute the anthropometric data to obtain Height for Age Z-score, Weight for Age Z-score and Weight for Height Z-score. The questionnaire was administered to mothers / caregivers of 329 children aged 6 -59 months.  The children’s feeding patterns were determined using the 24-hour dietary recall.  Dietary diversity score was computed to understand the quality of the diet consumed by the children. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.0 using descriptive statistics. Chi-square was used to determine the association between nutrition status and the independent variables including gender. The findings indicated 41% stunting rate, 18.8% underweight and 7.3% wasting implying poor nutrition. The cassava feeding frequencies varied among households and between and within the two children age groups, (6 – 10 months) and (11-59 months). Overall 87.23% of children (6-59 months) had a feeding frequency of 2 days, 3 days or 6 days in a week. The dietary diversity indicated an average IDDS of 2.5 implying poor diversity of consumed food groups which was similarly far below the target IDDS of 5 established for this study. The results however indicated no significant association (p ≥ 0.05) between cassava consumption pattern and prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight and also between gender and nutrition status. The high prevalence rate of malnutrition could thus be attributed to a synergistic effect of several factors