Consumption of animal source foods in children less than five years of age in Hoima district, Uganda

Abstract

Child malnutrition is one of the most important human health problems in Uganda being ranked among the ten top killer diseases. Nutritional deficiencies are often juxtaposed to health problems and often malnutrition is a predisposing factor in many childhood illnesses. The contribution of Animal Source Foods (ASF) in alleviating and controlling malnutrition problems in children is enormous. This study aimed at assessing the consumption levels and utilization of ASF in children among four household categories in Hoima, Uganda. The methodological approach was a cross-sectional study using survey questionnaires, unstructured interviews and focus group discussions. The data from the questionnaire survey was analyzed by ANOVA - SPSS packages. The per capita intake of the ASF in children was 3.8 kg (meat), 5.0 kg (eggs) and 1.9 kg (fish). This was exceptionally low compared to the consumption levels of the same ASF in adults which was 14.7 kg. The per capita intake of milk in children under the age of five was 88.6 liters. This was higher than the district average of 75.3 litres. This indicated that more milk was being given to children than adults. The per capita consumption of meat, eggs and milk was higher in predominantly livestock keeping households (7.0 kg, 7.0 kg and 113.7 liters), followed by Others (5.7 kg, 6.0 kg and 97.8 liters), mixed livestock/crop based households (2.5kg, 4.4kg, 91.6 liters) and least was the crop based households (1.8 kg, 4.0kg and 50.9 liters) respectively. The differences in milk intake between the categories were statistically significant (p=0.000).