Nutritional status of children under age five in Benue State, Nigeria

This study aimed at determining the nutritional status of under-five children or pupils in Benue State. The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of stunting, wasting and BMI for age of under-five children or pupils in Benue State. The participants for this study were three hundred and forty (340) under-five children or pupils who were sampled from the Early Childcare Centres (ECCs) across the primary schools in selected Local Government Areas of Benue State using multistage sampling technique consisting of three rural local government areas and three urban local government areas. Participants’ stature and body mass were measured in accordance with the protocol of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. The body Mass Index (BMI) of the participants was derived as a ratio of weight (in kilograms) to height (in meters) squared (kg/m2) and was expressed in standard deviation unit. The frequency and percentages were adopted in analyzing the prevalence of stunting, wasting and BMI. The WHO Anthroplus Software (version 3.2.2) was used to compute the under-five nutritional status which was categorized based on WHO recommendations. The results of the study indicated that, the overall prevalence of stunting and wasting were 44% and 7.6% respectively. The overall prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity were 6.5%, 12.1% and 25.9%, respectively. The prevalence of stunted under-five children or children was more among rural children (49.5%) than their urban counterparts (38.2%). The prevalence of wasting among urban children (7.9%) was slightly higher than their rural counterparts (7.4%), though not significant. The prevalence of each of underweight, overweight and obesity was higher among urban children 7.9%, 13.8% and 27.1% than their rural counterparts which have the corresponding values of 5.3%, 10.6% and 24.3%, respectively. It was therefore recommended that health personnel especially in Benue State should create awareness through seminars and workshops in schools, health facilities and the media on the need to provide whole meals to children and discourage the consumption of snacks or processed foods by not making it part of the children’s lunch pack.