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Knowledge on Vitamin A Rich Foods among Mothers of Preschool Children in Nepal: Impacts on Public Health and Policy Concerns

Received: 19 June 2014     Accepted: 4 July 2014     Published: 20 July 2014
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Abstract

"This study investigated the association of some socio-demographic, attitude, service availability and info-communication factors with the knowledge on vitamin A rich foods among mothers of preschool children in Nepal with its impacts on public health and policy concerns. The analyses demonstrated that about 71% of mothers were the Hindus ethnic group and 67% lived in nuclear family. A half of the child bearing aged mothers (51%) had higher secondary education with nearly 91% of the mothers were aware of vitamin A rich foods. A majority of mothers (53%) were in workforce and 65% of them had monthly family income above 10,000 Rupees with a good economic status. Almost 91% of the respondents’ mothers grew vitamin A rich foods in their kitchen gardens and took it in their daily meal as diet. An estimate of 93% mothers attendeda health centre with their children during the vitamin A supplementation campaign. About79% mothers reported that they knew about the first visible symptoms of vitamin A deficiency disorder (VADD) and 95% mothers knew about the night blindness. The findings revealed that in Nepal knowledge on vitamin A rich foods among mother’s of pre-school children is widely increasing, and in a particular community VADD has estimated as 9% while at the national level its real magnitude is still high at 24%. When the prevalence of VADD has been in a decreasing trend at local level communities then the overall rate also drops at the national level. Bivariate analysis showed that the three selected factors such as mother’s education levels, mother’s occupations, and monthly family income were significantly and positively associated with the mother’s knowledge on vitamin A rich foods in diet, VADD curable and include green leafy vegetable and yellow fruits in diet.As these significant factors are directly influencing the level of awareness and practice of consuming vitamin A rich foods, efforts from the government and non-government organisations are needed to improve the overall conditions of mothers and allied public policy concerns in Nepal. "

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 2, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22
Page(s) 316-322
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Vitamin A Deficiency, Information Education and Communication, Dark Green Leafy Vegetables, Socio-Demographic Factors, Knowledge on Vitamin A, Nepal

References
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[9] Katz, J., Khatri, S,K., West, K.P., Humphrey, J.H., Leclerq, s.C., Pradhan, E.K., Pokhrel, R.P. and Sommer, A. (1995), Night blindness is prevalent during pregnancy and lactation in rural Nepal. The journal of Nutrition, 125(10): 2122-2127.
[10] Kothari, G., Bhattacharjee, L. and Marathe, M. (2001), Food acceptance and selection: Activities for promoting pro-vitamin A foods among young children in urban slums, Community Eye Health, 14(37): 11–12.
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  • APA Style

    Azizur Rahman, Mahesh Sapkota. (2014). Knowledge on Vitamin A Rich Foods among Mothers of Preschool Children in Nepal: Impacts on Public Health and Policy Concerns. Science Journal of Public Health, 2(4), 316-322. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22

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    ACS Style

    Azizur Rahman; Mahesh Sapkota. Knowledge on Vitamin A Rich Foods among Mothers of Preschool Children in Nepal: Impacts on Public Health and Policy Concerns. Sci. J. Public Health 2014, 2(4), 316-322. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22

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    AMA Style

    Azizur Rahman, Mahesh Sapkota. Knowledge on Vitamin A Rich Foods among Mothers of Preschool Children in Nepal: Impacts on Public Health and Policy Concerns. Sci J Public Health. 2014;2(4):316-322. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22,
      author = {Azizur Rahman and Mahesh Sapkota},
      title = {Knowledge on Vitamin A Rich Foods among Mothers of Preschool Children in Nepal: Impacts on Public Health and Policy Concerns},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {2},
      number = {4},
      pages = {316-322},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20140204.22},
      abstract = {"This study investigated the association of some socio-demographic, attitude, service availability and  info-communication factors with the knowledge on vitamin A rich foods among mothers of preschool children in Nepal with its impacts on public health and policy concerns. The analyses demonstrated that about 71% of mothers were the Hindus ethnic group and 67% lived in nuclear family. A half of the child bearing aged mothers (51%) had higher secondary education with nearly 91% of the mothers were aware of vitamin A rich foods. A majority of mothers (53%) were in workforce and 65% of them had monthly family income above 10,000 Rupees with a good economic status. Almost 91% of the respondents’ mothers grew vitamin A rich foods in their kitchen gardens and took it in their daily meal as diet. An estimate of 93% mothers attendeda health centre with their children during the vitamin A supplementation campaign. About79% mothers reported that they knew about the first visible symptoms of vitamin A deficiency disorder (VADD) and 95% mothers knew about the night blindness. The findings revealed that in Nepal knowledge on vitamin A rich foods among mother’s of pre-school children is widely increasing, and in a particular community VADD has estimated as 9% while at the national level its real magnitude is still high at 24%. When the prevalence of VADD has been in a decreasing trend at local level communities then the overall rate also drops at the national level. Bivariate analysis showed that the three selected factors such as mother’s education levels, mother’s occupations, and monthly family income were significantly and positively associated with the mother’s knowledge on vitamin A rich foods in diet, VADD curable and include green leafy vegetable and yellow fruits in diet.As these significant factors are directly influencing the level of awareness and practice of consuming vitamin A rich foods, efforts from the government and non-government organisations are needed to improve the overall conditions of mothers and allied public policy concerns in Nepal. "},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Knowledge on Vitamin A Rich Foods among Mothers of Preschool Children in Nepal: Impacts on Public Health and Policy Concerns
    AU  - Azizur Rahman
    AU  - Mahesh Sapkota
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22
    DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22
    T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
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    EP  - 322
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7950
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140204.22
    AB  - "This study investigated the association of some socio-demographic, attitude, service availability and  info-communication factors with the knowledge on vitamin A rich foods among mothers of preschool children in Nepal with its impacts on public health and policy concerns. The analyses demonstrated that about 71% of mothers were the Hindus ethnic group and 67% lived in nuclear family. A half of the child bearing aged mothers (51%) had higher secondary education with nearly 91% of the mothers were aware of vitamin A rich foods. A majority of mothers (53%) were in workforce and 65% of them had monthly family income above 10,000 Rupees with a good economic status. Almost 91% of the respondents’ mothers grew vitamin A rich foods in their kitchen gardens and took it in their daily meal as diet. An estimate of 93% mothers attendeda health centre with their children during the vitamin A supplementation campaign. About79% mothers reported that they knew about the first visible symptoms of vitamin A deficiency disorder (VADD) and 95% mothers knew about the night blindness. The findings revealed that in Nepal knowledge on vitamin A rich foods among mother’s of pre-school children is widely increasing, and in a particular community VADD has estimated as 9% while at the national level its real magnitude is still high at 24%. When the prevalence of VADD has been in a decreasing trend at local level communities then the overall rate also drops at the national level. Bivariate analysis showed that the three selected factors such as mother’s education levels, mother’s occupations, and monthly family income were significantly and positively associated with the mother’s knowledge on vitamin A rich foods in diet, VADD curable and include green leafy vegetable and yellow fruits in diet.As these significant factors are directly influencing the level of awareness and practice of consuming vitamin A rich foods, efforts from the government and non-government organisations are needed to improve the overall conditions of mothers and allied public policy concerns in Nepal. "
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • School of Computing and Mathematics, Charles Sturt University, WaggaWagga, Australia

  • School of Public Health, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea

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