Health and nutritional status of young Zambian children residing on a sugar estate in rural Zambia

Abstract

The Health and Nutritional Status of young Zambian children aged 0-5 years and residing on a sugar estate in rural Zambia was studied over a period of three months from April to June 1995. The study design was cross-sectional and descriptive. The main out-come measures were: anthropometric measurements of growth; vaccination rates; causes of hospital admissions; prevalence of common childhood illnesses; utilisation of health care facilities; knowledge, attitudes and practices of care-givers and health workers. The results of the study are applicable to the population of the Nakambala Sugar Estate (NSE) Mazabuka, Zambia. A representative sample size was 332 obtained after systematically sampling 225 stratified households. Data analysis was done using the Epi-info programme. Nutritional status varied with age group but not with gender (X2, 1' = 2.95; p>0.05). When all the age groups were combined, 29.2% of children (94/322) had reduced weight-for-age; 18.5% (60/332) had reduced weight-for-height (wasting) and 18% (59/322) had reduced height-for-age (stunting). At least 14.5% (13/89) of children who were undernourished, started losing weight during the first year of life; the mean age at onset of loss of weight was 10.63 months with a standard deviation of + 5.17. Fourteen percent of children with wasting had diarrhoea and/or fever in the two weeks preceding the study. Eighty four percent of children less than 12 months of age were still breastfeeding.