Determinants of maternal literacy and nutritional status among children under 5 years in Umunneochi L.G.A, Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyze the determinants of maternal literacy and nutritional status of children 0-5 years in Umunneochi LGA, Abia state, Nigeria.
 Methodology: Random and convenience sample techniques were used to collect data from 210 respondents with the use of a well-structured questionnaire. The study employed descriptive statistics and adopted the Likert scale to assess the child feeding practices of mothers, the level of nutritional knowledge of the mothers and the nutritional status of children under five years.
 Findings: The findings revealed that the acceptable practices for child feeding were giving colostrum, prelacteal feeding, late introduction of optimal complementary foods, initiation of solid and semi-solid foods, late initiation of breast feeding and continuing to breastfeed for two years. The study also discovered that as common practice, mothers initiated exclusive breastfeeding as soon as the baby was born, rarely gave water to children under the age of six months and introduced complementary food once the baby developed teeth. At a 5% level of probability, the correlation analysis discovered a strong positive (r = 0.2034) correlation between education and nutritional status of mothers in the study which calls for promotion of maternal literacy and policy intervention to young mothers, particularly on child nutrition improvement.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: In addition, the health and community services sectors can promote the use of community-based food and utilization forms for ease of acceptability among mothers. Future interventions should focus on improving food access and availability for enhanced diet diversification for the rising population.