IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ajfand/334010.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A comparative analysis of the nutritional status of children attending early childhood development centres in Gauteng, North-west and Limpopo province, South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mokone, Suzan M
  • Manafe, M
  • Ncube, LJ
  • Veldman, FJ

Abstract

The nutritional status of children is a valuable indicator of health status and can indicate inequalities in health faced by the populations. The preschool period is the critical stage of active development and growth of physical, social, and mental well-being of children. Children eating patterns and food preferences develop over a lifetime and are influenced by family, ethnicity, and social environment. The purpose of the study was to do a comparative analysis of the nutritional status of children aged 2 to 5 years attending early childhood development centres in South Africa. A quantitative descriptive design was used to assess the nutritional status of 872 children attending preschool in the Soshanguve, Moretele, and Makhuduthamaga areas, and data was collected using a structured, researcher-administered questionnaire. The variables collected were age, sex, weight, height, mid-upper arm circumference. Gender and age-specific BMI cut-off points were used to determine the nutritional status. The study sample consisted of 872 preschool children, of which 422 (48%) were males, and 450 (52%) were females. The prevalence of overweight; obesity, and undernutrition were 7.7%, 3.4%, and 3.2%, respectively. The findings of this study showed that in all ECDs areas, most of the male children had normal weight. In this study, the age of children (p=0.007), as well as ECDs area (p=0.000), influenced the BMI of the children (p=0.007), and that overweight was higher amongst older children, 4 & 5 years from rural ECD area. The prevalence of overweight amongst children was 4.2% (Soshanguve), 9.3% (Moretele), and 9.6% (Makhuduthamaga), and the prevalence of underweight amongst children was 3.9% in Soshanguve, 2.7% in Moretele, and 3.1% in Makhuduthamaga. The prevalence of underweight was higher in urban ECD areas as compared to ECDs in rural areas. In this study, overnutrition was more prevalent as compared to undernutrition. Therefore, there is a need for nutritional intervention which promotes a healthy lifestyle in preschools.

Suggested Citation

  • Mokone, Suzan M & Manafe, M & Ncube, LJ & Veldman, FJ, 2022. "A comparative analysis of the nutritional status of children attending early childhood development centres in Gauteng, North-west and Limpopo province, South Africa," African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), vol. 22(01).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ajfand:334010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/334010/files/Mokone21495.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. International Food Policy Research Institute, 2016. "Global Food Policy Report 2016," Working Papers id:10538, eSocialSciences.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laviolette, Luc & Gopalan, Sudararajan & Elder, Leslie & Wouters, Olivier J., 2016. "Incentivizing nutrition: incentive mechanisms to accelerate improved nutrition outcomes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68710, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Nyathi, M.K. & van Halsema, G.E. & Annandale, J.G. & Struik, P.C., 2018. "Calibration and validation of the AquaCrop model for repeatedly harvested leafy vegetables grown under different irrigation regimes," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 107-119.
    3. Alan de Brauw & Sylvan Herskowitz, 2021. "Income Variability, Evolving Diets, and Elasticity Estimation of Demand for Processed Foods in Nigeria," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(4), pages 1294-1313, August.
    4. Perego, Viviana M.E., 2019. "Crop prices and the demand for titled land: Evidence from Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 93-109.
    5. Damtew Bekele, 2020. "A Review on the Relationship Between Nutrition and Health Condition in Humans," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 29(3), pages 22453-22461, August.
    6. Sheila Chanani & Anagha Waingankar & Neena Shah More & Shanti Pantvaidya & Armida Fernandez & Anuja Jayaraman, 2018. "Participation of pregnant women in a community-based nutrition program in Mumbai's informal settlements: Effect on exclusive breastfeeding practices," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Jamal, Haroon, 2018. "Mother‘s Empowerment and Child Malnutrition: Evidence from Pakistan," MPRA Paper 87949, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Ambler, Kate & Brauw, Alan de & Godlonton, Susan, 2018. "Measuring postharvest losses at the farm level in Malawi," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 62(01), January.
    9. Gillespie, Stuart & van den Bold, Mara & Hodge, Judith, 2019. "Nutrition and the governance of agri-food systems in South Asia: A systematic review," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 13-27.
    10. Abdur Razzaque Sarker & Marufa Sultana & Nurnabi Sheikh & Raisul Akram & Nausad Ali & Rashidul Alam Mahumud & Khorshed Alam & Alec Morton, 2020. "Inequality of childhood undernutrition in Bangladesh: A decomposition approach," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 441-468, March.
    11. Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh & Salima Almamary & Lamia Mahmoud & Lara Nasreddine, 2020. "Leveraging the Food System in the Eastern Mediterranean Region for Better Health and Nutrition: A Case Study from Oman," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-21, October.
    12. Adebayo Isaiah Ogunniyi & Samuel Opeyemi Omotoso & Kabir Kayode Salman & Abiodun Olusola Omotayo & Kehinde Oluseyi Olagunju & Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu, 2021. "Socio-economic Drivers of Food Security among Rural Households in Nigeria: Evidence from Smallholder Maize Farmers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 583-599, June.
    13. repec:aer:wpaper:396 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Edna H. Mtoi & Cornelio N. M. Nyaruhucha, 2019. "Child Care Practices and Nutritional Status of Under-Five Children in Tanzania: Evidence from Fishing Communities in Pangani District," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(7), pages 390-405, July.
    15. Haroon JAMAL*, 2018. "EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTHER'S EMPOWERMENT AND CHILD NUTRITIONAL STATUS: An Evidence from Pakistan," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 28(2), pages 189-211.
    16. Kukom Edoh Ognakossan & Christopher M. Mutungi & Tobias O. Otieno & Hippolyte D. Affognon & Daniel N. Sila & Willis O. Owino, 2018. "Quantitative and quality losses caused by rodents in on-farm stored maize: a case study in the low land tropical zone of Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1525-1537, December.
    17. S. Mahendra Dev, 2018. "Tranformation of Indian agriculture: Growth, iclusiveness and sustainability," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2018-026, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    18. Laviolette, Luc & Gopalan, Sudararajan & Elder, Leslie & Wouters, Olivier J., 2016. "Incentivizing nutrition: how to apply incentive mechanisms to accelerate improved nutrition outcomes: a practitioner’s compendium," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68711, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Debela, B.L. & Demmler, K.M. & Klasen, S. & Qaim, M., 2018. "Supermarket purchase and child nutritional outcomes in urban Kenya," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277078, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Tendai Polite Chibarabada & Albert Thembinkosi Modi & Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, 2017. "Nutrient Content and Nutritional Water Productivity of Selected Grain Legumes in Response to Production Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, October.
    21. Amanuel Hagos & Mache Tsadik & Abate Bekele Belachew & Afewerki Tesfahunegn, 2021. "Individual and community-level factors influencing optimal breastfeeding: A multilevel analysis from a national survey study of Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-12, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:ajfand:334010. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.ajfand.net/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.