Abstract
Inappropriate complementary feeding is an important challenge to proper child nutrition in post‐conflict rural areas in many sub‐Saharan African countries. While in protected areas during conflict situation and soon after during recovery, communities normally receive nutrition education as part of capacity building to improve knowledge, attitude, and practices to enable them manage maternal and child nutrition issues during the post‐conflict development phase. It is largely unknown whether capacity in nutrition provided is maintained and adequately applied in the post‐conflict development situation. Using Acholi sub‐region of Uganda, an area that experienced violent armed conflict for 20 years (mid‐80s–early 2000), as a case study, we examined the status of nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices associated with complementary feeding among caregivers of 6‐ to 23‐month‐old children in a post‐conflict development phase following return to normalcy nearly 10 years post‐conflict emergency situation. The results showed that a high proportion of caregivers had good knowledge (88%) and attitude (90.1%) toward complementary feeding. However, only a half (50%) of them practiced correct nutrition behavior. Education status of the household head and sex of the child significantly predicted caregiver knowledge on complementary feeding (p ≤ 0.05). Education status of the household head also predicted caregiver attitude toward complementary feeding (p ≤ 0.05). Poverty, food insecurity, and maternal ill health were the major factors that hindered caregivers from practicing good complementary feeding behavior. These results demonstrate that nutrition education on complementary feeding provided to the community during conflict emergency and recovery situation is largely retained in terms of knowledge and attitude but poorly translated into good child feeding practices due to poverty, food insecurity, and maternal ill health. Maternal health, food security, and poverty reduction should be prioritized if adequate complementary feeding is to be achieved among conflict‐affected communities in the post‐conflict development phase.
Highlights
Nutrition is a vital component of health promotion and disease prevention (Mowe, Bosaeus, & Højgaard, 2008)
This situation has largely been attributed to inappropriate complementary feeding practices by caregivers who in most cases lack adequate nutrition knowledge and information (Khanal, Sauer, & Zhao, 2013; Shi & Zhang, 2011)
Using the Acholi sub-region of Uganda as a case study, we examined whether, during the post-conflict development situation, conflict-affected communities are able to exhibit appropriate nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices required for a better outcome of complementary feeding of children aged 6–23 months
Summary
Nutrition is a vital component of health promotion and disease prevention (Mowe, Bosaeus, & Højgaard, 2008). An important question which has largely remained unanswered is as to whether the capacity building in nutrition provided during emergency and recovery phases of conflict enables the affected communities to exhibit good nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices during the post-conflict development phase. This question is important because, during the post-conflict development phase situation, affected communities are normally confronted with several challenges, and as such, the issue of proper and adequate nutrition of vulnerable people can be neglected. Using the Acholi sub-region of Uganda as a case study, we examined whether, during the post-conflict development situation, conflict-affected communities are able to exhibit appropriate nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practices required for a better outcome of complementary feeding of children aged 6–23 months. | 2376 sub-region returned to their original villages following official closure of the IDP camps in 2006
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