Abstract
BackgroundChildren with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition are managed routinely within out-patient malnutrition treatment programs. These programs do not offer maternal mental health support services, despite maternal mental health playing a significant role in the nutritional status of children. Additionally, the burden of maternal Common Mental Disorders (CMDs) is poorly described among mothers of children attending these programs.This study thus determined the burden and risk factors for maternal CMDs among children attending out-patient malnutrition clinics in rural North-western Nigeria.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among 204 mothers of children with severe acute malnutrition who attending eight out-patient malnutrition clinics in Jigawa, North-western Nigeria. We used the World Health Organization Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (WHO SRQ-20) screening tool, a recognised and validated proxy measure for CMDs to identify mothers with CMDs. The prevalence of maternal CMDs was determined by identifying the proportion of mothers with SRQ scores of ≥8. Risk factors for CMD were determined using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsMaternal CMD prevalence in children attending these facilities was high at 40.7%. Non-receipt of oral polio vaccine (OPV) (AOR 6.23, 95%CI 1.85 to 20.92) increased the odds for CMD. While spousal age above 40 (AOR 0.95, 95%CI 0.90 to 0.99) and long years spent married (AOR 0.92, 95%CI 0.85 to 0.98) decreased the odds for CMD.ConclusionsOur findings indicate maternal CMD burden is high in out-patient malnutrition clinics in North-western Nigeria. Maternal mental health services would need to be integrated into the community management of acute malnutrition programs to provide more holistic care, and possibly improve long-term outcomes after discharge from these programs.
Highlights
Children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition are managed routinely within out-patient malnutrition treatment programs
Jigawa state has a population of about 5.5 million people, and the state has 16 community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) malnutrition clinics across 5 of its 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs)
We initially approached 207 mothers attending the clinic for the first time, three of these children were orphans with grandmothers as caregivers and they were excluded from the study
Summary
Children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition are managed routinely within out-patient malnutrition treatment programs. Childhood acute malnutrition is an important underlying cause of under-five mortality in low and middleincome countries (LIMCs), where its severe form, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is associated with 174,000 annual deaths [1] In these settings, endemic poverty, and health inequalities have been identified as some background causes of a high acute malnutrition burden [2]. Closely related to childhood malnutrition, have received less attention in these settings, and this is typified by only 6% of published global mental research coming from LMICs [6]. This is despite a disproportionately high burden of both acute malnutrition and Common Mental Disorders (CMDs) such as anxiety and depression in these settings [7]
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