A Study of Malnutrition-dependent Factors among Under-five Children in Ekureku Community, Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria

Malnutrition is the consumption of dietary nutrients either insufficiently or exclusively, and several socio-economic, ignorance, and educational factors are known to determine nutritional status of any community. This study aimed at examining the nutritional status and malnutrition-dependent factors in Ekureku Community. With a cross-sectional design, 380 mother-child pair respondents were selected using systematic sampling technique. Nutritional anthropometry and questionnaire were used to gather data. Data collected were entered and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Student t-test and Chi-square were used to test for inferential statistics at 5% level of significance. Results show that 108(28.4%) of under-five children were stunted, 47(12.3%) wasted and 107(28.1%) underweight. Malnutrition was observed to be significantly higher among females than male children (P < 0.05). Children aged >24 months were more stunted (22.4%), wasted (9.5%) and underweight (22.1%) than children <24 months. Most respondents (54.2%) had poor knowledge of child nutrition, while 45.8% had a fair knowledge. Respondents (35.0%) breastfed their babies exclusively, while 63.0% introduced complementary feeding when their children were less than six months old. Factors such as poor maternal education, sex of child, unemployed women, knowledge of child nutrition and poor feeding practice were found to be associated with malnutrition among under-five children. These findings indicate that malnutrition is high among under-five children and may increase child morbidity and mortality in the community.