Nutritional Status of Pre-school Children in a Rural Community

Abstract

Summary: A survey of the nutritional status of pre-school children at Ilora, a rural town in Oyo State, has revealed the status to be markedly below that of the elite and significantly below that of other pre-school children with similarly low socio-economic background but residing in an urban area. The factors which appeared to be responsible for this sub-optimal nutritional status of rural pre-school children included not only low socio-economic status ofthe parents and poor environmental sanitation, but also ignorance of the value of the available nutritious food materials, and under-utilization of available health services. It is suggested that any programme for the control of malnutrition in rural communities should include health education input and increased food production.