Description
ABSTRACT
This study was a cross sectional evaluation study which sought to find out the nutritional impact of the supplementary feeding programme on the target population – children 6 months to 59 months. The study also looked at other factors (socio-economic and demographic) known to affect the nutritional status of children. The impact of the supplementary feeding programme was measured based on anthropometric indicators: height-for age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height. The study used multistage sampling techniques to select 200 children 6 to 59 months from the base-line study carried out at the beginning of the programme in 2003 by reviewing the existing baseline data. Two hundred (200) children 6 to 59 months old benefiting from the supplementary feeding programme as at August, 2007 were also selected using the register of beneficiary children in each community. Anthropometric measurements were taken of the sampled children (post intervention) while same was retrieved from the sampled baseline data (baseline). Mothers/ care-givers of the children were the subjects for interview, and similar information was sought out from the sampled baseline data.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page
Approval page
Dedication
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Table of content
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statement of problem
1.3 Objective of the study
1.4 Research Hypotheses
1.5 Significance of the study
1.6 Scope and limitation of the study
1.7 Definition of terms
1.8 Organization of the study
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Research methodology
3.1 sources of data collection
3.3 Population of the study
3.4 Sampling and sampling distribution
3.5 Validation of research instrument
3.6 Method of data analysis
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introductions
4.2 Data analysis
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Summary
5.3 Conclusion
5.4 Recommendation
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
Under nutrition is an underlying cause of 53% of all deaths in children younger than age 5 years (WHO, 2005). The prevalence of stunting (chronic under nutrition) has dropped worldwide. In developing countries, stunting dropped from 47% in 1980 to 33% in 2000 (WHO, 2000), although progress has been uneven among regions. Stunting has increased in Eastern Africa, but decreased in South-eastern Asia, South-central Asia and South America. Northern Africa and the Caribbean show modest improvement while Western Africa and Central America present very little progress (WHO, 2005). Despite an overall decrease of stunting in developing countries, child malnutrition still remains a major public health problem in these countries.
In some countries rates of stunting are rising, while in many others they remain unacceptably high (WHO, 2003). The pattern in Africa is quite distinct. The prevalence of stunting declined from 40.5% in 1980 to 35.2% in 2000, a decrease of only 0.3 percentage points per year (WHO, 2005). The highest level of stunting is found in Eastern Africa, where, on the average, 48% of preschool children are currently affected. In this region, stunting has been increasing at 0.1 percentage points per year.School feeding programmes constitute critical interventions that have been introduced in many developed and developing countries of the world to address the issue of poverty, stimulate school enrolment and enhance pupils’ performance. In developing countries, almost 60million children go to school hungry every day and about 40 percent of them are from Africa. Providing school meals is therefore vital in nourishing children. Parents are motivated to send their children to school instead of keeping them at home to work or care for siblings (Akanbi, 2013).The introduction of the school feeding is traced to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) initiative and several conferences held thereafter by African leaders which aimed to tackle issues, such as peace, security, good economic, political and corporate governance and to make the continent an attractive destination for foreign investment. Some of these developments include the ‘New Partnership for African Development’ which according to the blueprint is a pledge by African leaders, based on common vision and a firm and shared conviction, to eradicate poverty and to place their countries on the path of sustainable growth and development and, at the same time, to participate actively in the world economy and politics. Also, the ‘Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme’ and the ‘Millennium Hunger Task Force’ amongst others were initiatives which were designed to link school feeding to agricultural development through the purchase and use of locally produced food (Bundy et al, 2009). Nigeria happened to be one of twelve (12) pilot countries invited to implement the programme.
So far, Nigeria, Cote d’ivore, Ghana, Kenya and Mali commenced the implementation of the school feeding programme. As a result, the Federal Government came up with the Universal Basic Education Act in 2004, which provided the enabling legislative backing for the execution of the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme. Towards the realization of the objectives of the Universal Basic Education programme and the central role of nutrition, the Federal Ministry of Education launched the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme in 2005.
The overall goal of the School Feeding Programme in Nigeria is to reduce hunger and malnutrition among school children and enhance the achievement of Universal Basic Education. A total of 4,150 cooks were recruited in Benue state for the Home Grown School Feeding programme of the Buhari administration. State Focal Person, Benue State Investment Programme and Senior Special Assistant to Benue State Governor, Engr. Utaan Terhide, disclosed this during a news conference in Makurdi. Engr. Utaan who clearly stated that the Social Investment Program office in Benue adopted the use of Community Based Targeting approach for the recruitment of the food vendors out of the 16,000 applications received by the Home Grown School Feeding office, adding that due to logistics constraints, many applicants could not be accommodated in the program. He said that the multi-sectorial team set up by the state government worked tirelessly to ensure the state government met the prerequisite conditions necessary to participate in the scheme.
According to him, a total of 272,818 pupils in primary 1-3 out of the 949,047 enrolment in public primary schools in the state would benefit from the program, with a daily feeding of N70.00 per child amounting to a daily transfer of N19,097.260 to the food vendors which transcend to about N3,819,452,000.00 per annum. The Focal person further said that the Benue State Social Investment Office in collaboration with Center for Food Technology and Agriculture (CEFTA), Benue State University has successfully trained the recruited cooks on Food Safety and Hygiene, cutting across the 23 LGAs of the state and issued certificates to all participants.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The nutrition of preschool children is of considerable interest not only because of concern over their immediate welfare, but also because their nutrition in this formative stage of life is widely perceived to have substantial impact on their physical and mental development and on their health status in adulthood. Their physical and mental development, in turn, shapes their lifetime options by affecting their schooling success and post-schooling productivity. Improving the nutritional status of malnourished infants and small children may, therefore, have important payoffs over the long term. Malnutrition can take many forms.
Long-term macro or protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) usually is manifested in stunting, i.e., being short for one’s age and sex relative to standards established for healthy populations. Shorter-run PEM is often measured as wasting (low Weight-for-Height), underweight (low Weight- for-Age), and a low Body-Mass-Index (BMI). In the northern region, 48.8 percent of children under five years are stunted and 21.8 percent severely stunted; 6.6 percent of children under five are wasted and 1 percent severely wasted. Weight-for-age results show that 36.5 percent of children under five are underweight, with 8.7 percent severely underweight (GDHS, 2003). Even though food supplementation has been operating for over a decade in the Gboko Rural areas, the rate of child malnutrition does not seem to be reducing as much as expected. In 2003 stunting in Gboko was 42.5%, underweight 41.4% and wasting 12.5% among children benefiting from the WFP food supplementation (DHMT, 2003). Sixty percent (60%) of children attending child welfare or outreach clinics in Gboko are underweight (Regional Public Health Unit, 2005). Supplementary feeding programmes are possibly the oldest and the most common form of intervention for correcting malnutrition. A critical analysis of the Supplementary Feeding Programmes which have been undertaken around the world shows that although only a few programmes have been rigorously evaluated, it seems that in relation to their main objectives, most of them have not proved to be successful. (Rondo, 1990). Several donor agencies as well as non-governmental agencies and churches have been carrying out supplementary feeding programmes targeting vulnerable women and children less than five years of age in the northern region. Several others are also working in various health and development areas in the Gboko metropolis and around the region. Indeed, nearly every community in Gboko is benefiting in one way or the other from the services of an NGO or a Community-Based Organization (CBO). An impact study is therefore necessary to determine whether the program is succeeding in its main objective of reducing child malnutrition and whether scaling up will be beneficial. The study therefore seeks to assess the nutritional impact of the supplementary feeding programme on children in rural gboko.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The study aims to achieve the following aims and objectives:
- To ascertain whether the feeding programme has had a positive nutritional impact on the children.
- To ascertain the nutritional value derived by the beneficiary of the supplementary feeding programme.
- To determine the challenges encountered in the supplementary feeding programme for children in Gboko.
1.4 Research questions
The study seeks to provide answers to the following research questions:
- Has the supplementary feeding programme had a positive nutritional impact on the children?
- What are the nutritional value derived by the children as regards the supplementary feeding programme?
- What are the challenges encountered in the supplementary feeding programme for children in Gboko?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The study developed and formulated the following hypotheses for testing:
H0: The supplementary feeding programme for children in Gboko does not have a positive nutritional impact.
H1: The supplementary feeding programme for children in Gboko have a positive nutritional impact.
H0: There are no nutritional value derived by the children under the supplementary feeding programme.
H0: There are nutritional value derived by the children under the supplementary feeding programme.
1.6 Significance of the study
The study will help in unveiling the impact of the supplementary feeding programme in order to ascertain the credibility of the programme and hence evaluate if it is actually fulfilling its purpose. Also, the study is a contribution to the literature on the feeding programme in the country. Finally, the study will serve as a reference work for further researches.
1.7 scope and limitation of the study
This study encapsulated the literal works on the national feeding programme in Nigeria but with a scope limited to Gboko, Benue state. The study will accommodate works from other sources with insights on previous feeding programmes carried out under different administrations and even across national boundaries.
The study was however limited by time as it took the researcher some great time to deduce correct information from the respondents. The study was limited again by finance as the study requires finance to carry out effective logistics.
1.8 Organization of the Study
The study is divided into five chapters. Chapter one deals with the study’s introduction and gives a background to the study. Chapter two reviews related and relevant literature. The chapter three gives the research methodology while the chapter four gives the study’s analysis and interpretation of data. The study concludes with chapter five which deals on the summary, conclusion and recommendation.
