Nutritional Status of the Under-Five: A Case Study of Child Welfare Clinics' in the Asante Akim North District of Ashanti Region

ABSTRACT

Malnutrition continues to be the single most important challenge to governments in achieving the SDG- 2 target by 2030. To this effect, the aim of the study was to assess the nutritional status of „under-five‟ children in rural areas particularly in the Asante Akim North district. Quantitative and qualitative research design was used for the study. The population used was mothers with children under five years of age living within the study area who attended Child Welfare Clinics (CWCs) and health personnel in the various CWCs. Cluster sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used. Data was collected from 265 mothers with children under age five and 15 health personnel working at various CWCs. Data collections were done by the use of questionnaire and Child Health Record Booklet. Frequency counts, percentage analyses, and correlation analyses using SPSS to determine the prevalence of under five malnutrition and the factors influencing it. The study revealed that most of the mothers had knowledge on the nutritional requirements of their children concerning breastfeeding (99.6%) and complementary feeding (57%) respectively. However, they could not put into practice, the knowledge acquired on exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding regimes as recommended by the WHO and UNICEF. Results from the study show that health personnel did follow-ups on the mothers at home and during community durbars to ensure compliance with information given on breastfeeding, healthy eating and complementary feeding. The study was able to establish that health personnel received feedback on reports sent to the district health office and communicated the feedback to the nursing mothers. It can be concluded that majority of the nursing mothers of children under five years in the Asante Akin North District had knowledge on the nutritional requirements of their children through the education given them but failed to put them into practice. This has the potential of undermining the achievement of SDG 2.2 by the year 2030.