Women Empowerment and the Nutrition Status of Children Aged Between 6-59 Months

Abstract

Citation: Chipili G, Msuya J, Pacific R, Majili SZ (2018) Women Empowerment and the Nutrition Status of Children Aged Between 6-59 Months. Malnutrition remains a concern in the central province, despite being the most productive province in terms of Agriculture. Most studies in the province have not paid attention to the importance of women empowerment and the nutrition outcomes of the population. In light of this knowledge gap, this study focused on the Women's empowerment and the nutrition status of children aged 6-59 months. The study assessed the extent to which women are empowered in agricultural activities. This study sought to determine the association of women empowerment and nutritional status of children aged 6-59 months in Kapiri-Mposhi district in the Central Province of Zambia. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using a structured questionnaire. A total of 99 households were randomly sampled and the nutritional status of one child from each household assessed using anthropometric measurements. A total of 99 children were included in the study. Up to 21% of the children were stunted; 2% were wasted; and 9% underweight. There was a significant relationship between access to credit or income opportunities and Z-scores for wasting (WHZ) (p<0.05). This study suggests that further investment into women's access to income may help improve the nutrition status of children.