Nutritional Status of Children 24–60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Abstract Background: Despite the numerous efforts to improve the nutritional status of children, a high prevalence of malnutrition still exists in South Africa. This study aimed to determine the nutritional status of children attending Early Child Development centres in South Africa. Methods: In this baseline study, we randomly selected two Early Child Development centres comprising of 116 children aged 24 – 60 months, separated into two cohorts, 24 – 47 and 48 – 60 months from the Valley of a Thousand Hills area in the Ethekweni municipality. Dietary intake was measured through the 24hDR and analysed using Food Finder software. The food frequency questionnaire was used to calculate the food variety and food group diversity scores. Anthropometric measurements; weight and height were taken and the WHO Anthro software was used to convert it to nutritional data indices. Vitamin A and haemoglobin levels were collected through dry blood spot cards and assessed using WHO indicators. Results: The findings showed that participants had a low mean energy intake (24 – 47 months; 4906.2kJ and 4997.9kJ, 48 – 60 months; 5936.4kJ and 5621.2kJ ( p = 0.038), low fruit and vegetable consumption (24 – 47 months; 63.8g and 69.5g ( p = 0.037), 48 – 60 months; 68.3g and 74.4g ( p = 0.038) and the top five foods consumed were carbohydrate rich foods for girls and boys respectively. Stunting was noted in 7% and 20% (48 – 60 months) ( p = 0.012) and overweight in 8% and 17% (24 – 47 months) and 17% and 13 % (48 – 60 months) ( p = 0.041) in girls and boys respectively. Low serum retinol levels (<0.070µmol/L) were found in 9.1% of boys (24 – 47 months), 8% and 7.4% of girls and boys (48 – 60 months). Low haemoglobin levels (<11.0 g/dL) were found in 50.0% and 30.4% (24 – 47 months) and 8.6% and 39.3% (48 – 60 months) of girls and boys respectively. Conclusion and recommendation: Malnutrition, despite many national and provincial initiatives, still exists at Early Childhood Development centres in South Africa calling for the application of contextualized nutrition interventions to suite resource-poor settings.