Abstract:
Malnutrition is a leading cause of deaths in children below age five in the developing countries. For MDG goal to be met, malnutrition is to be reduced to the barest minimum if not eradicated. For this the study sought to assess the menu components among children below five years and explored the background characteristics of parents affecting child‟s menu component and nutritional status in the Upper West Akim District. The study adopted the descriptive cross-sectional design, and used the multi-stage cluster sampling method. A total of n=120 parents from four communities were used. A self- developed interview schedule was used for the data collection exercise. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages, means and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation, chi-square test for association). The findings revealed that mostly, the background characteristics of parents tend to influence the dietary intake of their children. Exclusive breastfeeding of children had direct relationship with nutritional status of their children. The results further highlighted that parents in the Upper West Akim District do not provide good menu component for their children. The anthropometric characteristics of the children showed a direct impact on the dietary intake of the children in the District. It is therefore recommended that training should be organized for parents in the Upper West Akim District to improve upon their nutritional knowledge on the feeding of their children. Additionally, food based recommendations should be developed, promoted and supported through policy initiatives.
