A Study Of The Nutrition And Health Of Children In The Gold Coast A Field And Laboratory Study

INTRODUCTION Despite wide interest in the nutrition and health of children in underdeveloped areas of the world, countries in Africa have been neglected by individuals and groups in the United States as sites for dietary and health studies. Reasons for this doubtless lie elsewhere than in a lack of interest. Such study not only offers the possibility of providing information needed by the indigenous population, but also information concerning the nutritive needs of children in relation to conditions in such areas. The present investigation was undertaken to study quantitatively the diet of certain groups of children in the Gold Coast, West Africa, in relation to their physical status and the environment of the area. The Gold Coast, as a British Crown Colony with a large degree of self-government, has had an important place during recent years in news of the African continent. It has become the first African Colony to have an all-African Legislative Assembly and all-African Cabinet. The country has been of special interest because of the extensive development of the cocoa and mining industries that has taken place during this century. Indeed, the Gold Coast is not considered underdeveloped in relation to many countries. But since much of the development has taken place so recently, all facets of life have not kept pace. Some 88 to 90 per cent of the population is nonliterate, and few of the people know even the rudiments of child nutrition.