The Relationship Between Women's Economic Activities And The Adequacy Of Feeding Their Pre-School Children: The Case Of HO In The Volta Region

ABSTRACT

The study examined the Relationship Between Women's Economic Activities and the Adequacy of Feeding their PreSchool children at Ho in the Volta Region. The main aim of this project was to find out the relationship between the length of time mothers spent away from home and feeding adequacy which was assessed by growth performance of the children. In all 70 working mothers with children aged 24 - 60 months were studied. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic data whilst the frequency of consumption of commonly used Ghanaian foods was collected using the food frequency questionnaire. Nutrient intakes of the study children were assessed by the 24-hour dietary-recall method. Anthropometric measurements (weights and heights) were used to assess the growth performance of the children. Using various statistical tools for analysis and presentation, the study revealed that children studied had diets that were low in calories, the group mean being 66% of the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for energy. The results showed that 27.1% of the children studied were malnourished (ie. they had weights for heights below - 2 SD) . The low energy intakes of the children might probably account for the growth deficit. vThere was a significant relationship between the lengths of time mothers spent away from home and the growth performance of their children. It was clear that more of those children who showed signs of malnutrition were those whose mothers spent 9 or more hours away from home daily. The main recommendations are that nutrition education be intensified for mothers of pre-school children. Secondly, Day Care Centres manned by qualified personnel be established at or near places of work to alleviate the feeding problems of pre-school children whose mothers work.