Awareness about breast feeding practices and vitamin A deficiency among mothers in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, South India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20211756Keywords:
Vitamin A deficiency, Knowledge, Awareness, Practice, Breast feeding, Andhra PradeshAbstract
Background: To assess the awareness about breast feeding practices and to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice about the signs and symptoms of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and vitamin A rich foods intake among mothers of children below 5 years in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh (AP) in South India.
Methods: A population based cross-sectional study was conducted on 284 mothers (age range 14 to 36 years) during June 2011 and September 2011. A combined simple and systematic random sampling strategy was used to select mothers from one tribal, rural and semi urban area with a representative sample of the Srikakulam district. A standardized structured questionnaire that was developed and validated by the National institute of nutrition, Hyderabad was utilized for this study.
Results: The awareness of vitamin A and night blindness was 68.7% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 62.9–74.0) (n=195) and 93.7% (95% CI: 90.2–96.2) (n=266) respectively. The knowledge of signs and symptoms of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) was nil among illiterate mothers and low among literates; with primary education, adjusted odds ratio (OR): 0.01 (95% CI: 0.00, 0.06) and with secondary education, OR: 0.19 (95% CI: 0.06, 0.62) compared to mothers with graduation and above.
Conclusions: There is a need to increase the awareness and knowledge about VAD among mothers with children below 5 years in the southern state of AP.
References
UNICEF. The state of the world’s children Report 2006: Excluded and Invisible. New York : UNICEF 2006. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/reports/ state-of-worlds-children. Accessed on 24 January 2021.
Wilson EM, Imdad A, Herzer K, Yahoob MY, Bhutta ZA. Vitamin A supplements for preventing mortality, illness, and blindness in children aged under 5. Syst Rev Meta-analysis. 2011;343:d5094.
National Family Health Survey, Ministry of health and Family Welfare. 2007. Available at: http://rchiips.org/nfhs/nfhs3.shtml. Accessed on 24 January 2021.
National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau. Diet and Nutritional Status of rural population (2005-2006). National Institute of Nutrition. Indian Council of Medical Research. 2006.
Mahmood SE, Srivastava A, Shrotriya UP. Infant feeding practices in the rural population of north India. J Fam Comm Med. 2012;19(2):130-5.
Khattak AZ, Khattak S, Khan H, Ashiq B, Mohammad D, Rafiq M. Prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria in Pregnant women. Pak J Med Sci. 2006;22(2):162-6.