| BackgroundInfants and young children are the most vulnerable population to malnutritionbecause of related factors including inaccessible exclusive breastfeeding within six months, and irrational complementary feeding time, type and frequency. Malnutrition affects the development of intelligence and behavior of infants and young children, andit will have an effect on lifelong health, including the ability to work in adulthood, if it can’t be corrected in time. Early interventions could prevent and control micronutrient deficiencies and associated damage, the related methods include:six months of exclusive breastfeeding, dietary diversification of complimentary infants food, having food containing absorbable vitamins and minerals, and food fortification.With the development of the’economy people’s living standards improved at the same time,creating favorable conditions for the improvement of children’s nutrition and health. The low weight rate of children under the age of five years and the growth stunting rate continued to decline from 1990 to 2005, with the low weight rate from 22.6% to 8.6% and the growth stunting rate from 41.4% to 13.1%. Generally, nutritional status of children has improved significantly, but children in rural areas, especially for infants and young children in poor rural areas, remains a concern, the low weight rate and the growth stunting rate was 12.3% and 17.6%, respectively. In 2002, the anemia rate of children less than 2 years old was up to 32.0%, which is a public health problem to be solved.YingYangBao(YYB) is a complementary food supplement tailored for infants and young children in poor rural areas s, its type is familiar with the soybean meal, and YYB relatively can meet the feeding habits of infants and young child in the poor rural areas. In the 1980s, our country attempted to introduce the iron-fortified substances in infants and young children cereals.to improve their iron status and has achieved good results. since then, a series of studies have confirmed the improvement effect of YYB on nutritional status of infants and young children. Over the past twenty years, YYB, as a complementary food supplement with Chinese characteristics, made a great progress. At present, in some programs carried out by the government and social groups in poor rural areas, YYB is distributed to the 6-23 month old infants and young children free of charge, leading to some benefits for infants and young children’s nutrition and health.ObjectivesTo evaluate the nutrition intervention effect of YYB on infant and young child aged 6-24 months in Lanxian county of Shanxi Province and Lanping county in Yunnan Province where YYB has been used to prevent infants and young children malnutrition and anemia.Materials and methodsData of the baseline monitoring on LAN county of Shanxi Province and LanPing County of Yunnan Province were used. The ethical application was completed according to the specific working condition monitoring. A consent form was signed by all infants and young children children’s guardian. The related parameters include height, weight and peripheral blood hemoglobin. The questionnaire was usedincluding the general information of the tested infants and young children, feeding conditions, nutrition and health knowledge by parents, YYB obtaining and consumption. The medical equipments recommended by the team were used. all staffs were trained based on the uniform standards and passed the examination. The YYB intervention effect on the nutritional status in the two counties was evaluated by using Z score of weight for age (WAZ), Z score of height for age (HAZ), the low weight rate, the stunting rate, the hemoglobin concentration and the anemia rate.Results1. Growth and development of infants and young childrenAfter YYB intervention, there were significant differences in the growth stunting rate in infants and young children in 18～23 months group of Lanping County compared with baseline (x2=5.614, P<0.05). The infants and young children’sgrowth stunting rate decreased 15.7 percentage points. There were significant difference in the total weight gain in 12～17 months group of Lanxian (P <0.01). A significant difference in length increase value in 6 to 11 months group of Lanping was observed (P<0.01) and height growth of 12～17 months group was significantly increased (P<0.05).2. The hemoglobin concentration and the status of the anemiaAfter YYB intervention, the anemia rate decreased 9% compared with the baseline, and the hemoglobin concentrations in Lanxian and Lanping county increased 0.27 and 0.02, respectively (χ2=4.916, P<0.01).3. The breastfeeding and complementary feeding knowledge statusThe rate of complementary feeding after 6 months according to WHO recommendation was less than 50.0%, and there remained the problems of adding complementary feeding time too early or too late. Timely complementary feeding rate was over 60.0%, complementary feeding species passed the rate of about 50.0%.4. The general use of YYBThe number of using YYB in Lan County and Lanping County were 284 and 278, respectively, and the distribution rate was 94.4% and 96.5%.5. Comparison of intervention effects in the two countiesAfter YYB intervention, for 6-11 month groups, WHZ in Lan County increased 0.08 while Lanping County with an increase of 0.63; for 12-17 month groups, LanCounty’s WAZ, WHZ and hemoglobin concentration were increased by 0.31,0.46,0.21 respectively, andLanping County’s WAZ, HAZ and hemoglobin concentration were increased by 0.41,0.58and 0.12; for 18-24 month groups, Lan County’s hemoglobin concentration increased 0.33, while Lanping County’s HAZ and hemoglobin concentration increased 0.67 and 0.02; for the overall level, Lan County’s WHZ and hemoglobin concentration increased 0.17 and 0.26 respectively, and Lanping County’s HAZ and hemoglobin concentration increased by 0.30 and 0.04.ConclusionsAfter YYB intervention, the following conclutions can be come to:1. The growth stunting rate was improved significantly after YYB intervention, both in Lanxian and LanPing County2. For infants in the the two counties, hemoglobin concentration increased, anemia rates decreased. Additionally, YYB significantly improved the prevalence of anemia in Lanxian.3. Although the parents paid more attation to the growth and development of their children, their feeding behavior did not change a lot. In poor rural areas, there were lack of strong promotion and publicity and appropriate measures and methods. At present, it is far less enough to resolve the problem of micronutrient deficiencies by only adding the complimentary food, therefore, nutrition intervention by YYB and food feeding knowledge play an important role in these areas.4. The efficient consumption and distribution of YYB demonstated that it was very important toconduct nutrition education in poor rural for infants and young children nutrition improvement. The two counties all had different degrees of nutrition improvement after YYB intervention.it is highly recommended to strengthen the education of nutrition knowledge,and further to understand the characteristics of the region and feeding habits, which will facilitate the future work and greatly improve the nutritional status of children in poverty-stricken areas.5. By comparing the YYB intervention effects in the two counties, Lan County’s hemoglobin concentration increased more than Lanping County’s andthe growth stunting rate in Lanping County was better than that of Lan County.
|
PDF Full Text Request