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Effectiveness in the preventive management of malnutrition in under-fives by mothers and care-givers in the azire health area in north-west cameroon

Bodzewan Emmanuel Fonyuy*, Manjong Sirri Delaris

According to WHO, malnutrition remains the biggest contributor to child mortality with 6million children dying from hunger each year. Malnutrition also occurs when an individual’s diet does not provide him/her with adequate calories and proteins needed for maintenance and growth or they cannot fully utilize the food they eat due to illness while those who suffer from over nutrition consumes too many calories. The main objective was to assess the knowledge and practical measures employed by mothers and caregivers in Azire Health Area in the preventive management of malnutrition in the Azire Health Area. The cross-sectional design was employed in which primary data was collected from a sample of mothers with under-five children to be a representative of mothers with under-five children in the study site; on their knowledge and its preventive management in the under-fives and their findings analyzed. Results revealed 78.9% had good knowledge on what malnutrition is. On the distribution of respondents according to their knowledge on the diseases caused by malnutrition, 84.3% had a good knowledge on the diseases caused by malnutrition while 16.7% had no knowledge. For those with good knowledge of the disease caused by malnutrition, 78% said kwashiorkor. Of the mothers who could not ensure that their baby had a balanced diet, 66.6% complained of lack of finance while 33.3% complained of inadequate knowledge on which food was best for the child. With respect to the proposed solutions to combat malnutrition, 51.9% said IEC should be reinforced. Malnutrition remains a serious global health issue affecting almost everyone in the developing world at some point in their life with under-five being the most vulnerable. Children who are spaced and well fed stand a better chance of being healthy and having good cognitive abilities than those who are not.