| Popis: |
Background: One of the major problems seen in the developing country is malnutrition and this has been showed to have a devastating effect causing a high morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to check the malnutrition prevalence and the nutritional status seen among children who are under - five living in the Cameroonian refugee settlement in Ogoja, Nigeria. Methods: The research was conducted among 211 children between ages 6-59 months, using the descriptive cross-sectional study. The study participants were selected using the multistage cluster method of sampling. The collections of data were through a structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurement. The data entry was EPI Data 3.1 while the data analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. The frequency and percentage of sociodemographic characteristics along with the nutritional status were determined using descriptive analysis. Result: From the study, it was found that 83.2% of children under-five were exclusively breastfed for six months. Majority (55.8%) of children under-five, were not fully immunized and 29.8% had diarrhoea preceding two weeks. Prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was 38.4%, 41.7% and 26.8% respectively.Conclusions: This study indicated that child malnutrition was high in children under-five living in Cameroonian refugee settlement in Ogoja, Nigeria. |
