Nutritional Status of Children 24-60 Months Attending Early Child Development Centres in a Semi-Rural Community in South Africa

Despite the numerous efforts to improve the nutritional status of children, a high prevalence of malnutrition still exists in South Africa. This study aimed to determine the nutritional status of children attending Early Child Development centres in South Africa. In this baseline study, we randomly selected two Early Child Development centres comprising 116 children aged 24-60 months, separated into two cohorts, of 24-47 months and 48-60 months. Dietary intake was measured through the 24 hDR and analysed using Food Finder software. The food frequency questionnaire was used to calculate the food variety and food group diversity scores. Anthropometric measurements were taken and the WHO Anthro software was used to convert it to nutritional data indices. Blood samples were collected through dried blood spot cards in order to determine serum retinol and haemoglobin levels and they were assessed using WHO indicators. The findings showed that participants between 24 and 47 months had a high mean energy intake (4906.2 kJ and 4997.9 kJ for girls and boys, respectively). For the 48-60 months age group, energy intake was lower than the EER (5936.4 kJ and 5621.2 kJ; p = 0.038). There was low fruit and vegetable consumption (24-47 months; 63.8 g and 69.5 g (p = 0.037), 48-60 months; 68.3 g and 74.4 g (p = 0.038) and the top five foods consumed were carbohydrate rich foods for girls and boys, respectively. Stunting was noted in 7% and 20% (48-60 months) (p = 0.012) and overweight in 8% and 17% (24-47 months) and 17% and 13% (48-60 months) (p = 0.041) in girls and boys, respectively. Low serum retinol levels (<0.070 µmol/L) were found in 9.1% of boys (24-47 months), and 8% and 7.4% of girls and boys (48-60 months), respectively. Low haemoglobin levels (<11.0 g/dL) were found in 50.0% and 30.4% (24-47 months) and 8.6% and 39.3% (48-60 months) of girls and boys, respectively. Malnutrition, despite many national and provincial initiatives, still exists in Early Childhood Development centres in South Africa, calling for the application of contextualized nutrition interventions to suit resource-poor settings.