Nutritional Status and Its Determinants among Fulani Children Aged 6-24 Months in a Rural Community of Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria

Background: Nutritional status of young children is an important measure of their health status, growth, and development. There is a knowledge gap in the nutritional status of Fulani children aged 6 – 24 months in Nigeria. Our study, therefore, aims to assess the nutritional status of Fulani children (6 – 24 months old) and its determinants.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 209 children were selected using a multistage sampling technique. Anthropometric measurements were obtained from the children and converted to Z-scores to determine nutritional status. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Bivariate analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between respondents’ socio-demographic factors and nutritional status. Statistical significance was determined at a p-value of ≤0.05.

Results: A majority (62.2%) of the children were aged 6 – 12 months. The prevalence’s of stunting, wasting and underweight were 44.9%, 9.6% and 16.3% respectively. A higher proportion (55.3%) of male children were stunted compared to females. Most (51.1%) of the children aged 6 – 12 months were stunted compared to those aged 13 -24 months. There was a statistically significant association between stunting and age (p = 0.004). Children aged 6 -12 months (OR = 2.5, CI: 1.3 – 4.8) were at higher risk of developing stunting compared to those aged 13 – 24 months.

Conclusion and Recommendation: The proportion of children that were stunted and those that were underweight was high. Therefore, there is a need for health authorities to ensure continuous growth monitoring practices of young children among the Fulani people to detect growth failure early in life and institute interventions.