ASSESSING NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE,
ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES AMONG
PREGNANT AND LACTATING
MOTHERS MCH, JUBA TEACHING
HOSPITAL, SOUTH SUDAN
ANNA FOROGO
Instructor : BOOR FELIX
Undergraduate thesis defense presentation
University of eastern Africa, Baraton
Background of the study
South Sudan is a young nation with an estimated population of
11,088,796 at mid, 2023
The country had crises in the past, and food insecurity due to conflicts.
There are various food myths, taboos, and beliefs which surrounds
women and children.
Life stages such as pregnancy, lactating stage, infancy and childhood
are vulnerable to malnutrition (Lartey; A, 2008).
Research background
• In North Africa, undernutrition in children was mostly associated with
uneducated mothers
Therefore, attention to maternal nutrition is crucial.
• Quality nutrition practices are crucial during pregnancy and lactation
to prevent long term effects.
• It also plays a role in reducing morbidity of chronic diseases,
improving quality of life by health promotion and reducing mortality
Problem statement
Maternal undernutrition has a huge impact on the unborn and
breastfeeding infants
Low nutrition knowledge is associated with high chances of anemia in
children, infant morbidity and mortality, and delayed development.
Developing countries has increased incidence of
1. Amenorrhea, miscarriages and stillbirths,
2. Congenital malformations and fetal birth,
3. Low birth weight, preeclampsia of which some are preventable with
proper nutrition.
Problem statement
Objectives
• To assess nutrition knowledge among pregnant and lactating mothers
at Juba teaching hospital.
• To evaluate attitude of pregnant and lactating mothers towards
nutrition at Juba teaching hospital.
• To determine nutrition practices among pregnant and lactating
mothers at Juba teaching hospital.
Research questions
• What is the level of nutritional knowledge among pregnant and
lactating mothers at Juba teaching hospital?
• What are the attitudes towards nutrition among pregnant and
lactating mothers at Juba teaching hospital?
• What are the nutrition practices among pregnant and lactating
mothers at Juba teaching hospital?
Literature review
• The literature on nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices among
pregnant and lactating mothers indicates suboptimum nutrition
literacy and practices in developing countries.
• Nutrition knowledge is influenced greatly by factors such as education
level, socioeconomic status, cultural beliefs and foods taboos
according to the literature
• It is noted that lack of nutrition knowledge led to poor nutrition
practices such as inadequate intake, lack of diversity and foods beliefs
that are not scientifically sound.
Methodology and data
collection
• The research design used was a cross sectional study design with a
descriptive approach.
• The study targets were women who are either pregnant or lactating
and attending healthcare services at Juba teaching hospital.
• A purposive sampling technique was employed for selection of
subjects.
• The study included 212 both pregnant and lactating mothers
• Permission was sought from the administration of the hospital
Methodology and data
collection
• Research instrument was interviewer administered questionnaires
• A research assistant was recruited who was also a student from a
health institution.
• The data was collected for a period of 5 days after a pretest one week
earlier before actual data collection.
• Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.
• Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the frequency and
percentage
Results
Age frequency percentage Religion frequency percentage
15-20 20 9.4 Christians 166 78.3
21-25 42 19.8 Muslims 46 21.7
26-30 117 55.2
31-40 33 15.6
Marital status frequency Percentage
Single 22 10.3
Married 178 84.0
Separated 12 5.7
Socioeconomic characteristics
• 46% of the participant had small
scale businesses / self-employed,
7% • 39.6% were housewives and no
24%
level of education occupation,
• Farmers were 10% and lastly
27% No formal education
Primary level
professionals being 3.8%
Secondary level
42% college
Knowledge score
• The subjects had on the aspects of nutrition
knowledge scores in percentages
evaluated.
• 84.3% got their nutrition knowledge from a
health worker while 15.7% ( family and friend)
• Half of the women (53.1) don’t know about the
3% 5%
importance of maternal nutrition,
low knowledge 5.2 % • 78.3% knew the number of meals a pregnant and
average knowledge 92.0%
high knowledge 2.85 lactating mother should take per day and only
16.9% knew the components of a balanced diet.
• 47.1% believed some foods should be avoided,
and 20.1% agreed that foods that irritate should
92%
be avoided.
• Knowledge on length of breastfeeding and start
of complementary feeding was high, 98.5% and
96.2% respectively
Nutrition attitude score among
subjects
Nutrition attitude scores
• 92.5% of the subjects had
100.00%
positive attitude
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
positive attitude (19-30) Negative attitude (6-18)
Nutrition practices among
pregnant and lactating mothers
• 22.5% of the participants have four meals a day,
• 1.9% consumes fruits in a day,
• 23.6% takes milk and milk products daily,
• 54.7% have vegetables daily, and 19.3% have meat and meat
alternative daily.
• 63.7% women avoided some foods and 60.2% avoided some foods
due to its texture and influence from the people around
Conclusion
• The subjects had average knowledge on the aspects of nutrition
evaluated.
• Almost all mothers(98.5%) were knowledgeable on the duration of
breastfeeding and exclusive breasting, and the initiation of
complementary feeding.
• Nutrition attitude was high(92.5%)
• Nutrition practices were below average with fruit intake being the
lowest among the participant.
Recommendation
• Ministry of health should strengthen education of vulnerable groups
at risk of malnutrition.
• The more emphasis on Nutrition education and counselling to
eradicate the misconceptions and assist every pregnant/breastfeeding
mother gain nutrition knowledge at a community level
• More research is needed in rural areas especially on food beliefs and
taboos.
Reference
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Thank you so much for
listening
Be blessed
