Nutrition News for Africa

Abstract - July 15, 2007

An article entitled “Maternal income-generating activities, child care, and child nutrition in Mali ” was published by June Pierre-Louis et al. in the Food and Nutrition Bulletin 2007;28 (1):67-75

Introduction: Maternal income-generating activities are hypothesized to be related to child nutrition by

a number of mechanisms. Maternal income-generating activities increase household food availability by increasing food production or by increasing household income and food expenditures; they may decrease the time spent by mothers caring for, feeding, and breastfeeding their children and increase care giving by other individuals besides the mother. Maternal income-generating activities also may increase maternal access to resources to procure food, decision-making power, and control of income.

Methods: The study population was rural, residing in villages surrounding the town of Kolondiéba (population 5,000), the administrative center of the area. Kolondiéba is located in a remote area 200 km southeast of the capital city, near the border with Côte d’Ivoire . Children eligible for the study were between 12 and 36 months of age, were Bambara, lived within 20 km of the town of Kolondiéba , and were not a twin. Data on maternal use of time were obtained to measure the productive workload or maternal income-generating

activities and time spent in child-care activities, and to observe specific child-care practices. Maternal time use was observed by a trained local fieldworker from sunrise to sunset ( 6 a .m. to 6 p.m.). Time spent in maternal income-generating activities, domestic work, child-care activities, social activities, and miscellaneous activities (personal

care, walking, praying, etc.) was recorded to the nearest 5 minutes and expressed in hours in the statistical analysis. Maternal income-generating activities on non-market days were own-account farming, gathering shea nuts, and making shea butter. Child-care activities were breastfeeding, feeding, bathing and dressing the child, playing with the child, and comforting the child. Household size and per capita livestock assets were proxies for socioeconomic status; household size is directly related to the number of economically

productive adults in the household, whereas livestock assets primarily reflect the number of cattle, one of the most important household assets. Maternal food production was reported by the mother and was a categorical variable in the statistical analysis.

The food and nutrient intakes of 45 children were assessed by the 24-hour recall method. The 24-hour recall method was first explained to the mothers, and then the mothers were asked to observe what and how much their children ate during the day. The next day

the mother was asked to recall the dietary intake of her child. The child’s weight and height were adequately measured and expressed in the analysis as height-for-age z-scores, weight-for-height z-scores, and changes in weight-for-age z-scores. Parasitic infestation was assessed through a 5g stool sample collected from each child

Results: In this study the prevalence of stunting (chronic malnutrition ) was 29% and the prevalence of wasting (acute malnutrition ) was 17%. The percentage of children’s stools positive for Giardia was 17%, and the percentage of stools positive for E. histolytica was 5%.

Positive associations were found between household size and child height for age; per capita livestock assets and animal protein intake; maternal supervision of feeding and animal protein intake; maternal production of peanuts and children’s weight-for-height z-score.

Discussion: Maternal food production during the rainy season was related to the short-term nutritional status of the child (wasting, energy intake), whereas time spent by the mother in income-generating activities was weakly related to the long-term nutritional status of the child

(stunting). The study findings suggest that maternal supervision of child feeding can more than offset the negative effect of maternal income-generating activities on children’s animal protein intake. The authors concluded that measurement of the mix and kind of income-generating activities, information on maternal control over income, and an in-depth understanding of child-care practices as well as the cultural context are needed to elucidate the effects of maternal food production and trading on child care and child nutrition in Africa.