Predictors of nutritional status among participants in a rice irrigation scheme in Kenya.

PIP: Over the short term, irrigation projects often negatively influence the nutrition and health of target populations through factors which are either directly or indirectly related to the development process of the project. A cross-sectional survey of 187 households in, and 168 households from surrounding areas of the Mwea-Tebere rice irrigation scheme (MTIS) in Kenya was conducted to study the individual and social characteristics associated with childhood malnutrition. The cultivated area in the MTIS grew from 7000 acres in 1965 to 31,000 in 1987. However, during the same period, the population grew from 16,000 to 40,000, with most or all of the tenants' children continuing to live with their parents and overcrowding scheme villages. The proportion of under-fives who had weight/age, weight/height, and height/age indices under -2 standard deviations of the WHO-NCHS reference values was higher among MTIS residents than among nonresidents. Maternal education was the only variable significantly associated to all indicators of malnutrition used in the study. the area of residence, the number of resident dependents upon proceeds from the same farm, recent episode of diarrhea, child's age, mother's occupation, mother's age, type of caretaker of the child in the mother's absence, and mother's marital status were associated to one or two indicators of malnutrition. The level of maternal education is significantly higher at MTIS than off-scheme. However, the influence of MTIS' crowding and poor sanitation conditions is strong enough to make the nutritional status of preschool children worse within the scheme. Maternal education should be promoted, facilities provided to improve sanitary conditions, and programs launched to control population density in on-scheme villages.^ieng

Nutrition intervention: an evaluation of six studies.

Six nutrition intervention studies were evaluated in the context of a predetermined methodology covering several categories of evaluative criteria. After a presentation of reasons for including each study, a summary is presented of the results of each study in light of the present investigators' evaluation and secondary analyses. Nutrition intervention programs can have a positive effect on health indices of infants and children, but much can be done in future nutrition projects to improve project design and thereby assist and facilitate more meaningful evaluations of nutrition intervention. To this end, a set of points for consideration by those designing nutrition intervention projects is provided.

Etiological determinants of protein calorie undernutrition in a rural child community.

Two groups of randomly selected underweight and well-nourished preschool children residing in study villages of Punjab, Ludhiana district were examined with respect to their socioeconomic background, birth weights, dietary intakes, quality of received mother care, blood biochemistry, parasite load, psychomotor development and past illness prevalence. It was found that underweight children showed significantly less favourable indices in all of the above categories except stool parasitology suggesting an extremely intricate and complex interaction of a host of ecological variables in the causation of undernutrition. Using the discriminate analysis on readily available social variables, it was found that caste affiliation and, less so parental income were the two most significant variables distinguishing between the two groups. A model for the interaction patterns of ecological variables in their effect of protein calorie malnutrition for the given area is suggested.