ABSTRACT

This study assessed the prevalence of malnutrition in children aged 6 months to 5 years in Onitsha Metropolis, Anambra State. The objective of the study was determined with the following five specific objectives, assess the demographic and socio-economic status of children aged 6months to 5 years in Onitsha metropolis Anambra State, assess the food habit of children aged 6months to 5 years in Onitsha metropolis Anambra State, measure the anthropometric status of children aged 6months to 5 years in Onitsha Metropolis, Anambra State, examine the prevalence of malnutrition among children aged 6months to 5 years in Onitsha metropolis Anambra State, evaluate the factors associated with malnutrition among children aged 6months to 5 years in Onitsha Metropolis Anambra State and determine the relationship between the anthropometric status of children aged 6 to 60 months in Onitsha Metropolis, Anambra State. However, in the quest to perfect this research; cross-section survey research design was adopted, data were sourced primarily through questionnaire instrument distributed randomly to the mothers. Thus, two hundred and forty nine (249) responses were gathered and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analysis however made the following findings; most (51.8%) of the children were male, (34.1%) within 0 to 1 year old, (32.5%) of the children are Nursery 3 pupils, 34.2% children have 1 to 2 siblings and majority 84.7% of the children weighed 2.5 to 2.9 kg, and 90.4% of them was fully immunized. Most (69.5%) of the mother exclusively breastfed their baby, 57.8% mothers used home-made pap, 50.6% added soybean to their pap, 77.1% washed babies feeder immediately after use, 48.2% of the child eat on demand and 59.8% feeds alone. The marital status of the households negatively influenced the malnutrition among children aged 6months to 5 years. In conclusion, the marital status of the respondent negatively influenced the malnutrition among children aged 6months to 5 years, while mothers age, mothers occupation and mothers income positively influence the malnutrition among children aged 6 months to 5 years. It is recommended that Government and Nutritionists organise health advocacy campaign targeting parents with children < 5 years to educate them on proper infant and young child feeding practices