STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF WEIGHT GAIN OF CHILDREN UNDER-FIVE YEARS IN THE KINTAMPO MUNICIPALITY, GHANA

Abstract

The role of weight-for-age babies in the early childhood and its effects on later lives of children cannot be over emphasized. Birth weight according to Murthy (1991) is a key indicator of the incidence of infant mortality and thus, a reflection of the socio-economic development of a country. The main objective is to use statistical models to assess the change in weight of children over time and to investigate whether maternal characteristics such as marital status, educational level, religion, maternal age, feeding type, parity and baby‟s gender directly influence those changes. The data used in this study is a retrospective data on relevant variables of delivered mothers and infants or children less than five years, extracted from the weighing cards of the babies in the Kintampo RCH weighing center. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), Profile Analysis and Trend Analysis were employed to ascertain the significant factors of weight and their effect on mean weight of babies over time. The results revealed the differences among level means of the factors, and also identified both significant and insignificant factors that directly and indirectly influence the change in weight of babies. The study revealed that feeding type and parity levels are influential factors in determining weight gain. On the bases of the analysis, it was recommended that stakeholders, policy makers and health professionals in the child Health sector should formulate appropriate strategies by creating awareness on these significant factors.