Good Care Practices Can Mitigate the Negative Effects of Poverty and Low Maternal Schooling on Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from Accra

This study uses data from a representative survey of households with preschoolers in Accra, Ghana to: (a) examine the importance of care practices for children’s height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ); and (b) identify subgroups of children for whom good maternal care practices may be particularly important....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World development 1999-11, Vol.27 (11), p.1993-2009
Main Authors: Ruel, Marie T., Levin, Carol E., Armar-Klemesu, Margaret, Maxwell, Daniel, Morris, Saul S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Child care
child care practices
Child rearing
Childhood
Childrearing Practices
Children
Children & youth
Developing countries
Education
Effects
Ghana
LDCs
Malnutrition
maternal schooling
Motherhood
Mothers
Nutrition
Parent Child Relations
Poverty
Poverty alleviation
Regional development
Rural sociology
socioeconamic factors
Socioeconomic factors
Studies
stunting
Urban Affairs
urban nutrition
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Summary:This study uses data from a representative survey of households with preschoolers in Accra, Ghana to: (a) examine the importance of care practices for children’s height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ); and (b) identify subgroups of children for whom good maternal care practices may be particularly important. Good caregiving practices related to child feeding and use of preventive health services were a strong determinant of children’s HAZ, specially among children from the two lower income terciles and children whose mothers had less than secondary schooling. In this population, good care practices could compensate for the negative effects of poverty and low maternal schooling on children’s HAZ. Thus, effective targeting of specific education messages to improve child feeding practices and use of preventive health care could have a major impact on reducing childhood malnutrition in Accra.
ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/S0305-750X(99)00097-2