Baseline Study of Striga Control using IR Maize in Western Kenya

nutritional status of children are Z-scores on weight-for-height (wasting) or ZWFH, weightfor-age(underweight) or ZWFA, and height-for-age (stunting) or ZHFA. Thesemeasurements were made for children aged six years old and below in the two provinces. TheZ values used in the classification of children were as follows: Z > –1.00 is normal; –1.00>Z> –2.00 is mild malnutrition; –2.00 >Z> –3.00 is moderate malnutrition and; Z < –3.00 issevere malnutrition.There were a total of 767 children aged six years old and below (46.7% were male). Overall,the nutritional status of children falls under the normal category for the three Z scores.However, two indices fall under mild malnutrition on ZWFA for male-headed households inWestern province and for ZHFA for male-headed households in Nyanza province andfemale-headed households in Western province (Table 5.7).Table 5.7. Anthropometric indices on childrenZ scoreMale Headed HouseholdsFemale Headed HouseholdsAll Nyanza Western All Nyanza WesternWeight-for-height –0.02 (628) 0.3 (276) -0.2 (352) 0.5 (91) -0.7 (50) 1.8 (41)Weight-for-age –0.8 (661) –0.5 (292) –1.1 (369) –0.3 (97) -0.7 (53) 0.1 (44)Height-for-age 1.4 (648) –1.1 (285) 1.6 (363) -0.9 (94) 0.2 (51) -2.3 (43)Figures in brackets indicate number of valid entries in analysisHowever, the above averages hide many differences. For Nyanza, the proportion of childrenexperiencing wasting was as high as 30% (Table 5.8). Almost 50% of children wereunderweight as a consequence of short-time exposure to food insecurity. Also a large number(48%) of children were stunted. Children were suffering not only from a scarcity of food buttheir long-term development was also affected by the chronic exposure to food shortages.This situation of generalised malnutrition of children in regions not affected by civil conflictsis frightening.Table 5.8. Nutritional status of children in Nyanza provinceWeight-for-height Weight-for-age Height-for-ageN 327 346 338Normal (%) 70.3 50.6 52.1Mild malnutrition (%) 11.9 18.5 18.9Moderate malnutrition (%) 7.0 10.4 10.7Severe malnutrition (%) 10.7 20.5 17.8N = Number of childrenA similar analysis done for Western province shows 35% of children suffer from wasting;59% are underweight; and 58% are stunted (Table 5.9). The comparison of the nutritionalstatus of children also shows that food insecurity is higher in Nyanza for wasting and inWestern for underweight and stunting. The proportion of children who experience a severemalnutrition was higher in Western compared to Nyanza.Table 5.9. Nutritional status of children in Western provinceWeight-for-height Weight-for-age Height-for-ageN 404 413 408Normal (%) 65.1 40.9 41.7Mild malnutrition (%) 13.1 16.5 17.2Moderate malnutrition (%) 7.7 15.5 15.7Severe malnutrition (%) 14.1 27.1 25.5N = Number of children39