Discussion Paper No. 151 of 2013 on Dietary Diversity and Child Malnutrition in Kenya

Abstract

Malnutrition in children below the age of five years is critical due to the developmental requirements of that age. Dietary intake and diseases are the immediate causes of malnutrition, which are influenced by food security of a household, the child caring practices, and the environment within which the child lives. In Kenya, the determinants of child malnutrition have been studied extensively, and various factors such as maternal education, socio-economic status and inadequate access to food have been analyzed. However, work on dietary intake by children, especially using dietary diversity scores, has not been exhaustively studied. This study aimed at analyzing dietary diversity in Kenya and its impact on child malnutrition. The main objectives of the study are to determine the level of dietary diversity in children aged 6-59 months in Kenya, and to analyze the impact of dietary diversity on child malnutrition. Data from the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2008/09 was used, from which the nutritional status and dietary diversity variables were derived. Forty two (42) per cent of the children had low dietary diversity, while 41 per cent and 17 per cent had medium and high dietary diversity, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that intake of a highly diversified diet reduced the probability of a child being malnourished by 9 per cent. In addition to dietary diversity, caring capacity of the child and the environment the child was exposed to were shown to influence the nutritional outcome of the child. This study concludes that dietary diversity is very important in the fight against child malnutrition, and should be included in the Food and Nutritional Security Policy as one of the measures to be used in reducing child malnutrition in Kenya...