A study to determine mothers knowledge and practices towards vitamin A supplement and foods rich in vitamin A in Mpanshya - Chongwe District.

Abstract

The study aimed at exploring mother's knowledge and practices towards vitamin A supplement and vitamin A rich foods in Mpanshya area, Chongwe district of Lusaka Province. Mpanshya catchment area has been experiencing a steady increase of number of illnesses in children such as respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea and eye infections. A descriptive qualitative study design was used. Stratified random sampling was used to select the sample and a sample of 50 respondents was selected for the study. A pilot study was conducted at UTH in Paediatric wards and the respondents were five (5) mothers with under five children. Analysis of data from the pilot study was done and necessary changes to the interview schedule were made accordingly. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview schedule from 4th September to 30th September, 2007. Anonymity and confidentiality was upheld by keeping the information as secret of the researcher. Data analysis was done manually and entered on the data master sheet for easy analysis. The findings were presented using frequency tables, bar charts, pie charts, cross tabulations and numerical description was prepared to show the relationship of variables with the aid of a calculator. The results show that 58% of the respondents had medium level of knowledge on vitamin A rich foods and vitamin A supplementation but could not use their knowledge into practice in terms of feeding their under five children with the appropriate foodstuffs. The bad practice could have contributed to the increase in VAD. In addition, 52% of the mothers did not know the definition of vitamin A. However, 68% of mothers knew the importance of vitamin A.