Nutrition and the vulnerability of rural children to imbalance diet related diseases in Nigeria

Poverty alleviation is one of the objectives of the MDGs. Despite the annual budgetary allocations by successive government in Nigeria, real life experiences are showing that program embarked upon do not have direct impact on the lives of children in rural areas. Socio economic indicators of being poor are visibly reflecting in the daily living standards of the people with their attendance consequences on weak health status and dwindling life expectancy. was ranked second as the country with highest number of children without basic healthcare. Poor child health and nutrition impose significant and long-term economic and human development costs. This study examines the feeding patterns and the vulnerability of children (4 – 12 years) to diseases related to imbalance diet in rural communities in. <>Data were obtained from North Central Nigeria. Two rural communities were selected from each local council areas using systematic random sampling, making a total of 32 rural communities for the entire study. In each of the rural community, thirty households were selected based on Enumerated Area Survey. In all, the instruments were administered on 960 households selected for the study. Secondary data related to malnutrition were obtained from medical statistical records of public and private health systems between 2000-2006 in the study locations.

Findings show that the poor feeding condition of children is a fallout of the parents level of poverty. The feeding diet is mostly imbalanced with averagely poor housing conditions. Though with adequate knowledge of mosquito treated nets, many could not afford it in an environment where the use of pit toilets is rampart. Consequently, the incidences and prevalence of imbalanced diet related problems such as protein energy mal-nutrition, marasmus kwashiorkor, goiter and environmental health problems such as malaria fever, typhoid fever and upper tract infections were reportedly high and cut across sexes, age and demographic parameters. Engaging in programs with improvement on the socio-economic conditions and standard of living of children in rural areas are recommended to alleviate poverty and reduce the incidences of related diseases.