Availability, access and feeding practices associated with malnutrition in children under 24 months in Mozambique.
Florência Custódio Mondlane, Lara Morena Cardeal, Rogério António de Oliveira and 1 others
PMID 41191694WHAT IT FOUND
In a Mozambican town, malnutrition in children under 24 months was associated with feeding practices, household food reserves and food insecurity.
Growth monitoring should ask about food access and complementary feeding.
Key findings
01Only 23% of children met all national feeding recommendations.
02Only 35% of households were food secure, and 22% had severe food insecurity.
03Agricultural practice and household food reserves were protective factors against chronic malnutrition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The survey measured associations at one time point, so it cannot show that food reserves, agriculture or feeding practices caused lower malnutrition. The study was done in one Mozambican town, so the results may not apply to other regions or households. The authors did not include housing, sanitation, service access or protective care, which can also affect malnutrition. Birth weight was not recorded, which may have influenced nutritional status in the first months of life. The study assumed access to services was the same for all households, which may not be true. Children with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or delayed psychomotor development were excluded, so the findings do not describe those groups.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing food reserves or farming will reduce malnutrition. The study was cross-sectional and measured associations, not the effect of an intervention.