Vitamin A Supplementation and Morbidity of Children (Aged 6 to 59 Months) in the Rural Municipality of Sinder, Tillabery, Niger

Abstract

In Africa, vitamin A deficiency is responsible for approximately 6% of deaths in children under 5 years of age (1). Due to the significant risk that this deficiency has on infant morbidity and mortality (reduced resistance to infections, stunted growth, blindness, death), it is considered by the World Health Organization as a major public health problem (2). The strategy of supplementing children with vitamin A is said to be responsible for a significant reduction in the risk of infant morbidity and mortality (3). The objective of this study is to assess the impact of vitamin A supplementation on the morbidity of children aged 6 to 59 months in the rural island commune of Sinder. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study on a representative sample of mothers of children aged 6 to 59 months. The study was conducted in the rural commune of Sinder in Niger. A questionnaire was completed using a structured interview recorded on the ODK software. Thus, the data were collected with the ODK software and then analyzed with the SPSS and Epi Info version 7.2 software. In total, 166 mother-child couples were identified using the simple random probability sampling method. According to the data of this study, girls had significantly more vitamin A supplementation (43.42%) than boys (37.78%) p = 0.001. Children aged 12 to 23 months (50.85%) received more vitamin A than children in other age groups (p = 0.05). According to the mothers' level of education, it is noted that children of mothers with secondary and higher education received more vitamin A doses in the last 6 months before the survey, however the difference is not significant (p = 0.48). On the other hand, maternal occupation is predictive of vitamin A supplementation (p = 0.04). Married mothers have more children supplemented with vitamin A (41%) but the difference is not significant. Thus, farmers, breeders and those practicing small businesses and crafts have significantly more children supplemented with vitamin A.