187450 An examination of how environmental and socio-economic factors affect vitamin A food consumption and knowledge in a nutrition intervention in rural Zimbabwe

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Jacquelyn Hansen, MPH , University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Significance

Poverty and its association with malnutrition have plagued the developing world for centuries. Growing modernization and the development of a globalized economy has resulted in the slow diminishment of abject poverty but not necessarily in malnutrition, especially in resource poor settings. Interventions that focus on vitamin A have become a common and frequent means of diminishing malnutrition but without also measuring the influence of socio-economic factors, the intervention cannot be sustainable.

Purpose

This paper explored the association between socio-economic status and vitamin A adequacy as well as knowledge of vitamin A rich foods and their consumption in a nutrition intervention in rural Zimbabwe.

Methods

An intervention and control group was compared using bivariate analysis and logistical regressions to show the interaction of certain environmental and socio-economic predictors on the adequacy of vitamin A in the diet and their level of knowledge of vitamin A in preventing vitamin A deficiency.

Results

The results showed that the intervention district had a higher socio-economic status than the control district. The proportion of the mother's vitamin A adequate diets differed significantly with 75.7% adequate in the intervention and 47.8% adequate in the control which was similar to the children's vitamin A adequacy with their adequacy at 71.7% and 51.2% respectively. The knowledge of the importance of vitamin A was associated to the mother's vitamin A adequacy in the intervention district with an OR of 3.12 (1.59-6.13).

Conclusion

The above results showed that those of a higher socio-economic status have proportionally better vitamin A adequacy. What was found was that the quality of the homestead had more impact as a socio-economic factor than the more common factors of age or income. Also, an association was seen between knowledge of the importance of vitamin A and mother vitamin A adequacy in the intervention.

Learning Objectives:
1. To identify the most significant environmental and socio-economic indicators that influences vitamin A adequacy as well as knowledge of vitamin A in a rural, resource poor setting such as Zimbabwe. 2. To demonstrate how knowing the importance of vitamin A differs greatly from just knowing the sources of vitamin A in influencing vitamin A adequacy in the diet. 3. To identify techniques for ensuring the quality of data in politically and environmentally difficult setting which are challenges seen especially in rural areas and developing countries.

Keywords: Nutrition, Social Inequalities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: This paper is part of my research thesis for an MPH from the University of Washington in the Department of Health Services in the International Program (now the Department of Global Health). I graduated in September of 2007 and now have a Masters in Public Health. I also have a earned the International Development Policy and Management Certificate from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington which informed my research topic as well.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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