Health Informatics

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Browsing Health Informatics by Author "Alemu, Tadesse (PhD)"

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    Relationship Between Nutritional Status and mental Development of Children in Elka Na Mataramofa, East Showa
    (Addis Ababa University, 1996-05) Mogga, Souci; Alemu, Tadesse (PhD)
    Malnutrition is one of the major problem in the world particularly in developing countries and it is endem ic in Eth iopia. Different studies have showed that severe malnutri tion during in fancy negatively affects mental development. Most malnu tri tion begins in the second year of life, and most of it is chronic and mild to moderate in severity. This is why the current study is looking at even mildly malnourished children I - 4 years of age. To assess the mental development of children in relation to their nutr itional status, I II children 12 - 42 months of age from a single peasant association were taken in this study. From these chi ldren 49.5 % were under weight, 52.2% were stunted and 9.9% were wasted. The mean Bayley score was 88 and SO 13. Most (71.2%) scored 76 - 101. The mean Bayley score between those stunted and non-stunted showed a significant difference. Multiple linear regression also showed HI A significantly related to mental development. In addition to nutritional status, birth order and delivery events were shown to have strong relation to mental development. Therefore we recommend an extensive health education on nutrition, expansion of delivery services to the rural population and further research on mental development of children with emphasis on the effect of family interaction and chIld rearing pracfice on mental development.