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- Diet diversity and nutritional status of 2 to 5 years old children in...
Diet diversity and nutritional status of 2 to 5 years old children in households with and without home gardens in selected districts in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia
Thesis Abstract:
There is a high prevalence rate of malnutrition in Cambodia for the past 10 years. One of the programs implemented to secure household food security to alleviate malnutrition was home gardening. The study aimed to compare the nutritional status of 2 to 5 years old children in households with and without home gardens. Twenty-five households with home gardens and 60 households without home gardens were sampled. The households sampled had a mixed type of home garden with 3 to 5 crop varieties occupying 20 to 200 square meters area. The purpose of the garden was to increase vegetable consumption and produce additional income. Results showed that 72% and 65% of the children residing in households with and without gardens, respectively, had medium diet diversity score, i.e. majority consumed 4 to 5 different food groups per day. Except for stunting, higher prevalence rates of under nutrition at 32% and wasting at 8% were observed among children residing in households with home garden than those children in households without home gardens. There was no association with diet diversity score and nutritional status of children from households with and without home garden. Among the socio-demographic and economic factors; age, sex, family size, and vegetable consumption was significantly associated with diet diversity score and nutritional status of the children.