Socio-economic, education, and health variables were examined to
determine the primary causes of malnutrition in preschool Haitian
children. A survey of 160 women and their child closest to weaning age
was conducted in three regions of Haiti in January 1978. Ordinary least
squares multiple regression analysis was used to determine the combined
power of the socio-economic, education, and health variables and the
relative power of each independent variable separately in explaining
malnutrition in the sample population.
Results showed that the amount of food or food money available
had the greatest impact on the child's current nutritional status
as,
measured by weight/age. Long term malnutrition, as measured by height,
age, was most affected by education. Health variables as a group
were least effective in explaining malnutrition although the number of
illnesses a child had had was highly related to malnutrition. A strong
interaction between weaning age and months spent in a nutrition center
suggested that children who were weaned early were more likely to become
severely malnourished and required longer periods of nutritional
rehabilitation than children who were weaned later.
Recommendations were made to incorporate the findings into
current nutrition center programs in Haiti.
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