Assessment of nutritional status and care of hiv/aids orphans cared in homes: a case study of Ilula Kilolo District
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Date
2005
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Orphans may be at increased risk of becoming malnourished probably due to inadequate attention or care. This study was conducted to compare the nutritional status and care of AlDS-orphans and non-orphans aged 0-15 years at Hula Kilolo district in Iringa region Tanzania. A total of 100 households were visited, 40 households affected and 60 non affcctcd households. Affected households were purposively selected from a list of pilot Hospice care program of Hula Health Center while non-affected households were randomly selected. AIDS orphans were purposively selected while non-orphans wererandomly selected. A total of 120 children were recruited for the study, 60 AIDS orphans and 60 non-orphans. Weight-for-height, Weight-for-age, Height-for age and BMI-for-agc were computed from anthropometric measurements. The results of the study indicated that 63.3% of orphans were double orphans and 28.3% and 8.3% were paternal and maternal orphans respectively. Among orphans caregivers 55% were grandparents most of them being unemployed and widows. Affected households were more disadvantaged in terms of
food security than non-affected and that most of these households had no support from relatives, the government or other organizations. There was no difference in key nutritional indicators and the mean Z-scorc for children under the age of 10 years were not statistically different. The difference in the proportion of acute malnourished children between orphans and non-orphans was not statistically different at 5% level ofsignificance (p = 0.4155). These results suggest that the nutritional status of surviving AIDS-orphans cared for by members of extended family in homes is not different from that of non orphans. However immediate follow up studies are required after the death of parents so as to determine the impact ofparents loss on children who might not survive the death oftheir parents as the proportion of under five deaths among orphans was significant p = 0.001.
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Dissertation
Keywords
Nutritional status, Hiv/aids orphans, Households, Health Center