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Vitamin A deficiency and food consumption of children between the ages of 6 to 84 months in a rural area of Mali |
Cahiers d'études et de recherches francophones / Santé . Volume 5, Number 2, 77-83, Mars-Avril 1995, Étude originale
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 Résumé
 Summary
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Author(s) : Mohamed Ag Bendech, Michel Chauliac, Christian Carles, Modibo Diarra, Direction nationale de la Santé publique, BP 1746, Bamako, Mali, Centre international de l’enfance, Bois de Boulogne, 75016 Paris, France, Laboratoire de nutrition Orstom, BP 5045, 34032 Montpellier cedex, France, Institut national de recherche en Santé publique, BP 1771, Bamako, Mali.. |
Summary : A cross-sectional study was carried out during the dry season, within the framework of an extension of an existing sanitary progam. In December 1991, a cluster sample of 2,631 children was selected in a rural district of Mali, in the district of Koutiala, with good agricultural conditions. A sub-sample of 262 mothers was selected for interviews concerning their knowledge and attitudes about vitamin A deficiency symptoms. Prevalence of clinical symptoms was 2% for night blindness, 0.3% for Bitot’s spots and 0.2% for corneal scars. Night blindness was more common after 3 years. The study of weekly consumption of vitamin A rich foods, made on a sample of 519 children, revealed that only 3.3% ate vitamin A rich foods less than seven times a week and 2.7% never ate any. According to the recommended dietary allowances, vitamin A deficiency was not a public health problem in this region. However, these results do not agree with those of the clinical study. It should be noted also that protein energy malnutrition is scarce among the children. These results allowed an estimate of the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency, but were insufficient for the design of strategies to reduce this prevalence. Simple and relatively cheap epidemiological methods like case-control studies are not commonly used in developing countries. These methods could be used to obtain a better estimate of social, cultural and biological risk factors, and therefore, better targeting interventions. |
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