The status of nutritional knowledge, attitude and practices associated with complementary feeding in a post-conflict development phase setting: The case of Acholi sub-region of Uganda
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Date
2018-03-20
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley- Food and nutrition
Abstract
Inappropriate complementary feeding is an important challenge to proper child nutrition
in post-conflict rural areas in many sub-Saharan African countries. While in protected
areas during conflict situation and soon after during recovery, communities normally receive nutrition education as part of capacity building to improve knowledge, attitude, and
practices to enable them manage maternal and child nutrition issues during the post-conflict development phase. It is largely unknown whether capacity in nutrition provided
is maintained and adequately applied in the post-conflict development situation. Using
Acholi sub-region of Uganda, an area that experienced violent armed conflict for 20 years
(mid-80s–early 2000), as a case study, we examined the status of nutritional knowledge,
attitude, and practices associated with complementary feeding among caregivers of 6- to
23-month-old children in a post-conflict development phase following return to normalcy nearly 10 years post-conflict emergency situation. The results showed that a high
proportion of caregivers had good knowledge (88%) and attitude (90.1%) toward complementary feeding. However, only a half (50%) of them practiced correct nutrition behavior. Education status of the household head and sex of the child significantly predicted
caregiver knowledge on complementary feeding (p ≤ 0.05). Education status of the
household head also predicted caregiver attitude toward complementary feeding
(p ≤ 0.05). Poverty, food insecurity, and maternal ill health were the major factors that
hindered caregivers from practicing good complementary feeding behavior. These results demonstrate that nutrition education on complementary feeding provided to the
community during conflict emergency and recovery situation is largely retained in terms
of knowledge and attitude but poorly translated into good child feeding practices due to
poverty, food insecurity, and maternal ill health. Maternal health, food security, and poverty reduction should be prioritized if adequate complementary feeding is to be achieved
among conflict-affected communities in the post-conflict development phase.
Description
Keywords
attitude and practices,, complementary feeding,, conflict-affected communities,, knowledge,, post-conflict development situation