Dietary Diversity And Nutritional Status Of Pre-School Children From
Musa -Dependent Households In Gitega (Burundi) And Butembo (Democratic
Republic Of Congo)
In sub-Saharan African countries, diets of pre-school children are
predominantly based on starchy foods with little or no animal products
and few fresh fruits and vegetables. A cross-sectional survey was
carried out in Gitega health zone (Burundi) and Butembo health zone
(Democratic Republic of Congo–DRC) with the objective of
establishing dietary diversity and nutritional status of pre-school
children from rural-banana dependent households. The two health zones
were selected based on high dependency on bananas and plantains and the
high levels of food insecurity. Through multi-stage random sampling
commune/collectivity, colline/localite and villages were selected from
each of the health zones; household listing was done in each of the
sub-sites and systematic random sampling used to select 281 households
with pre-school children (Butembo- 138 and Gitega- 143). Dietary
diversity was assessed using the dietary diversity score (DDS) with a
reference period of 24 hr. Anthropometric measurements were taken and
Epi Info 2002 used to compute nutrition indices and results classified
according to World Health Organization 2006 cut-off points. Findings
showed that 48% and 42% of the children from Butembo (DRC) and Gitega
(Burundi) respectively had consumed food items from less than 3 food
groups. Only 7% and 29% of children from Butembo (DRC) and Gitega
(Burundi), respectively had consumed highly diversified diets (>6
food groups). In both countries the most popular food group was the
roots, tubers and bananas group (>75% consumption rate). The other
popular food groups were; vegetables group, cereals and grains group in
Gitega (Burundi) and vegetables group and legumes group in Butembo
(DRC). In both countries less than 15% of the preschool children
consumed food from meat, eggs or milk groups. Stunting was the most
prevalent form of malnutrition with 63.57% and 78.86% of the preschool
children from Gitega and Butembo, respectively being stunted (z-scores
of ≤-2), while 20% and 3.25% of children from Gitega and Burundi,
respectively were wasted. The differences in levels of underweight and
stunting among children from Gitega and Butembo were not statistically
significant but the differences in wasting were significantly different
at a P<0.05. With the high levels of malnutrition and low dietary
diversity observed among rural-Musa-dependent households in Gitega and
Butembo, it is important that stakeholders work collaboratively in
coming up with sustainable integrated approaches that link agriculture,
nutrition and health in order to enhance the livelihoods of these
communities