Tzitiridou-Chatzopoulou Maria, Zournatzidou Georgia, Orovou Eirini, Lithoxopoulou Maria, Drogouti Eftychia, Sklavos George, Antoniou Evangelia, Tsakalidis Christos
School of Healthcare Sciences, Midwifery Department, University of Western Macedonia, 50100 Kozani, Greece.
Department of Business Administration, University of Western Macedonia, 51100 Grevena, Greece.
Children (Basel). 2024 Jul 26;11(8):903. doi: 10.3390/children11080903.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Failure to thrive (FTT) is mostly caused by insufficient consumption of nutrient-rich food, recurrent infections like diarrhea and intestinal worms, substandard caregiving practices, and limited availability of health and other vital services. Furthermore, there was a correlation between the educational level of mothers and the occurrence of FTT in children aged 6-12 months. Thus, the objective of the current research is twofold: (i) to investigate other factors related to FTT and (ii) to evaluate the impact of them on FTT in Sub-Saharan African countries and their urban areas.
We used weight entropy and TOPSIS methods to approach the research question. In particular, the entropy-weight method is effective for precisely evaluating the relative significance of the selected criteria for TOPSIS computation. Thus, data were retrieved from the database of UNICEF for the year 2019 for nine Sub-Saharan countries, and based on the methods used, five criteria have been selected for consideration. Those of mothers in higher education were identified as having a higher weight, which means that this can affect positively the ability of mothers to mitigate the situation of FTT and protect their children.
The findings of the study highlight the factors of maternal education at a higher level and unhealthy habits as those with the greatest weight and impact on the FTT. Moreover, the results indicate that the association between maternal education, and especially higher education, and FTT is stronger in Ethiopia. Despite the limited amount of research on the specified relationship in Sub-Saharan countries, this study is among the initial ones to examine it.
The current study can aid policymakers in devising appropriate policies and implementing effective measures to tackle FTT in Sub-Saharan Africa, like enhancing the number of mothers in these countries to be integrated into the educational system to help both themselves and their children mitigate or avoid the symptoms of FTT.
背景/目的：发育迟缓（FTT）主要是由营养丰富食物摄入不足、腹泻和肠道寄生虫等反复感染、不合格的护理行为以及健康和其他重要服务的可及性有限所致。此外，母亲的教育水平与6至12个月大儿童的发育迟缓发生率之间存在关联。因此，本研究的目的有两个：（i）调查与发育迟缓相关的其他因素；（ii）评估这些因素对撒哈拉以南非洲国家及其城市地区发育迟缓的影响。
我们使用权重熵和TOPSIS方法来解决研究问题。特别是，熵权法对于精确评估TOPSIS计算所选标准的相对重要性很有效。因此，从联合国儿童基金会2019年的数据库中检索了九个撒哈拉以南国家的数据，并根据所使用的方法选择了五个标准进行考量。高等教育程度母亲的标准被确定为具有更高的权重，这意味着这可以对母亲缓解发育迟缓状况和保护孩子的能力产生积极影响。
研究结果突出了较高水平的母亲教育因素和不健康习惯是对发育迟缓影响权重和影响最大的因素。此外，结果表明，在埃塞俄比亚，母亲教育尤其是高等教育与发育迟缓之间的关联更强。尽管撒哈拉以南国家对特定关系的研究数量有限，但本研究是最早对此进行考察的研究之一。
本研究可以帮助政策制定者制定适当的政策并实施有效措施来应对撒哈拉以南非洲的发育迟缓问题，比如增加这些国家纳入教育系统的母亲数量，以帮助她们自己和孩子缓解或避免发育迟缓的症状。
