The effect of maternal work on the nutritional status of mothers and children
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Date
1999-07
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Addis Abeba Universty
Abstract
Maternal work has been seen to have two contradictory effect on
child nutrition-via increasing income and decreasing time
available in the household . The net effect will depend on the
decision making pattern of the household and the adequacy and
quality of child care substitute . A sample of 422 mothers and
their children were selected In the rural town of Butajira
through household survey to exami ne the effect of working for
profit/gain on nutritional status of both the mother and
children. Result showed that children of working mothers had a
better nutritional status [OR(95%CI) 0 . 38 (0 . 19,0.76] however
working mothers themselves were at a risk of being malnourished
compared to non-working mothers (95%CI): 1. 62 (1. 05, 2 . 5). The
decision making pattern and the child care substitute did not
show any effect on the overall result . In the attempt to improve
the nutri tional status of children the encouragement of
maternal involvement in income generating activities is
indispensable. Working mothers in the informal work needs to be
considered in any nutritional intervention programme as they are
likely to be at risk of being malnourished .
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Keywords
The effect of maternal work on the nutritional