Who is the child at risk?

Prior to the establishment of a nutrition intervention programme in the Bagamoyo district of rural Tanzania, all children residing in eleven randomly selected villages were weighted and a number of social and community variables collected. The survey served the dual purpose of providing a baseline to subsequently measure programme impact and identifying the child at risk of becoming malnourished. Despite the survey being carried out during a season of relative scarcity of food, results suggest a relatively benign level of malnutrition in relation to other regions of Subsaharan Africa or other developing countries. Age, the total number of children per household, the proportion of child deaths in the family, paternal care, and residence in specific villages showed statistically significant negative correlations with preschool nutritional status. Apart from residence in specific villages, birth weight, breast-feeding status, supplementation with milk and care of the child in the absence of the mother by a sibling or "nanny" provided positive correlations. The fact that residence in certain villages was associated with highly significant positive or negative effects on preschool child nutrition, as revealed by multiple linear regression analyses, suggests that further research into identification of the precise nature of these variables is required before optimization of an intervention package may be achieved.