Prevalence of malnutrition among children under 5 years in the municipal of 2KP (Kerou, Kouandé and Pehunco) in northern Benin

Abstract

Malnutrition is the set of disorders / conditions resulting from the deficiency or excess of one or more essential nutrients. It is a public health problem in many developing countries. In order to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition in a community, it is important to describe the nutritional status of the community and to look for the determinants of this situation. In view of the damage caused by this pathology, we were interested in determining the prevalence of malnutrition among children under five in 2KP communes. It is a prospective, descriptive and analytical study in which we collected the anthropometric measurements of 600 children and submitted their mothers to a questionnaire. The results show that the three forms of undernutrition are still present with 64.8% of stunted children, 11% of underweight children and 2% of emaciated children. Moreover, the dietary diversity scores recorded among the surveyed households are mostly low. The factors identified as responsible are, among others, the non respect of the principle of exclusive breastfeeding, the bad practices of weaning, the diseases. In sum, the very high level of stunting is indicative of chronic food insecurity. It urges an awakening of consciousness of the different actors involved in the fight against malnutrition for an improvement of the nutritional status of children in 2KP.