Nutritional Education for Low Birthweight CONTEXT AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study focused on the use of a nutritional education program to elevate the birthweight of infants born to a sample of already pregnant Nigerian females; elevating birthweight is important because low birthweight infants have a higher rate of mortality than do normal birthweight infants. However, before going into the study, it is necessary to show that there is indeed a need for such a program in Nigeria; this because it has been recognized in recent years that birthweight and growth standards based on children of European origin or ancestry may not be appropriate in evaluating the birthweight and growth of children of different ethnic origin (Wanke, 1992). Knowledge of what is a normal birthweight as well as what is normal growth is important to health workers, particularly those concerned with implementing programs of nutrition education in developing countries.

One study which does establish that birthweight is generally lower in Nigeria was conducted by Wanke (1980), who examined the birthweights of Nigerian infants by gathering anthropometric growth data on exactly-known-age Hausa children from birth to 17 years for boys and to age 13 for girls. Data were collected for weight, height, sitting height, biacromial and biiliac widths, calf and upper arm circumferences, triceps skinfolds and mid-arm muscle circumferences. The findings were then compared to reported values for other Nigeria

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remain poor, especially immigrants and villagers (Musageir, 1987). Guzman-de-Manrique (1989) has noted that both low socioeconomic status and poor education are two demographic factors that jeopardize pregnancies of Third World women, primarily because they are associated with a lack of knowledge about health and nutrition. Moreover, once the baby is born, poverty and under-education are said to result in Third World mothers' failure to provide stimulation sufficiently adequate for sound cognitive growth. Thus, to the extent that Nigeria may be legitimately characterized as "Third World" there is the possibility that these findings hold for them. Age is another factor that can jeopardize the pregnancies of Third World females, mostly through low-birth weight complications. In this regard, Serenius, Edenessee and Swailen (1988) found that the younger the women, the less likely they are to have prenatal care and, therefore, the more likely they are to have low-birth weight infants. It was further found that teenage females and females over the age of 35 were particularly susceptible to low birth-weight complications. This finding that Third World females are more susceptible to the contribution of age to problematic preg
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Third World, Afro-Americans Birthweights, Allgeier Allgeier, Grove Carpenter, Care PHC, Belief Model, Nigeria Specifically, Education Workshop, Scope Issue, Education Countries, third world, nutrition education, health care, nutritional education, education programs, world women, third world women, third world females, world females, nutritional status, infant mortality, world countries, third world countries, nutrition education programs, nutritional education programs,
Approximate Word count = 9801
Approximate Pages = 39 (250 words per page)

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