The prevalence of underweight in children aged 5 years and younger attending primary health care clinics in the Mangaung area, Free State.

BACKGROUND

The Constitution of South Africa stipulates that all children have the right to basic nutrition; however, a great number of South African children are underweight for age. It is important to address malnutrition as it is associated with more than 50% of all child deathsin developing countries and also increases the risk for infective diseases.

AIM

To determine the prevalence of underweight in children aged 5 years and younger attending primary health care clinics in the Mangaung area, Free State, and determine the possible underlying causes thereof.

SETTING

Six preselected primary health care clinics in the Mangaung area.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study. Demographic and clinical information and anthropometric measurements were collected from the children's Road-to-Health clinic cards,obtained from the children's caregivers.

RESULTS

In total, 240 children were included, of which 51.7% were girls. The median age was 7.5 months. The weight-for-age graph revealed that 7.7% (95% confidence interval: 4.8%;11.9%) of children were underweight or severely underweight for age. Length-for-age and weight-for-height graphs were mostly incomplete. Underweight children differed from normal weight children regarding birth weight (low birth weight 70.6% vs. 12.4%) and history of malnutrition (60.0% vs. 7.1%).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of underweight in children aged 0-5 years attending primary health care clinics in Mangaung is 7.7% based on information available from Road-to-Healthcards. This figure could be higher if these cards were filled in more accurately. A low birth weight and history of malnutrition are associated with underweight.