Water, sanitation and hygiene practices of mothers/caregivers in relation to nutritional status of children under five years in the Nabdam District

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition among children below the ages of five may be blamed fo r most childhood diseases and stunted growth. One of the major solutions to malnutrition is through effective and efficient childcare in households. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices among mothers/ caregivers in relation with the nutritional status of children under five years in the Nabdam district of the UER. Methodology: A community-based analytical cross-sectional study design was used to recruit mother and child pairs to collect quantitative data on WASH practices of mothers/caregiver and nutritional status (Anthropometry) of the children. A total of 312 respondents were assessed. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using SPSS version 23 for windows. Descriptive statistics, as well as a test for association using Chi-square analysis and multiple logistic regression, was conducted to establish the relationship between WASH practices and nutritional status of children under five years. Results: A total of 314 respondents were involved in the study, 90% of all respondents were female with the majority of them lactating, and 5% pregnant as at the time of data collection. From the study, 94% of respondents were wellnourished, and only 6% were moderately malnourished using MUAC. Stunting prevalence among children (<-2 z-scores) was (57.5%) and (46.9%) for boys and girls respectively. The prevalence of underweight was also 25.7% for boys and 15.2% for girls. The occurrence of diarrhoea is dependent on Handwashing with soap, and handwashing with water only as the chi-square value of 14.5 and 13.1 are all significant at alpha value of 0.05 (p-value < 0.05). The results also show that iv handwashing after defecation, after handshake and after work are not related to diarrhoea occurrence among under five. However, diarrhoea occurrence is dependent on handwashing before/after eating and after changing babies. Conclusion: In the study, diarrhoea occurrence significantly sets in 6-17 months. Diarrhoea occurrence is high within the lower age group and gradually reduces towards older age groups. However, nutritional status of children had remained significantly high in all age categories. While, severe stunting remained high in all age categories though severe underweight is low from the result of the study.