Assessment of nutritional status of household members in a rural Nigerian population

Abstract

The study assessed the intra-household nutritional status of 50 households with 202 family members in Ikwuano, Nigeria. Data were obtained through pre-tested questionnaires and anthropometry. The results indicate that 56% of food procurement was by market purchases + home grown, 22% was by market purchases only, while market purchases + home grown + gift was (22%). The mode of food distribution was mainly individually (42%), followed by collectively (32%) while individually + collectively was 26%. The largest quantity of foods in the family was consumed by fathers (36%), mothers (30%) youngest child (16%), eldest child (6%), everyone (5%) and both parents (1%). Data on nutritional status showed underweight (parent 4.8%, children 67.2%), normal weight (parents 55.4%, children 26.9%), overweight (parent 31.3%, children 5.9%) and obese (parent 8.4%, children 0.0%). The male-headed households had better nutritional status than female-headed households. The study showed that improper method of food allocation was employed by the study population with a consequent existence of double burden of malnutrition in the households.

Keywords: nutritional status, household members, rural studies