Socio-economic and cultural factors affecting women's work, health and nutritional status
Keywords:
Socio-economi, health and nutritional status, Nigeria, farming communitiesSynopsis
This study .was designed to investigate the effect of socio-economic. and cultural factors could affect women's work, health and nutritional status. Two farming communities - Eha-amufu and Adani both in Enugu State, Nigeria· were selected for U1e study. A total or 300 womt:n comprising of JOO each of Cachers, farmers and pelly traders were studied. This sn1dy was carried oul
by means of focus group discussion (FGD), questionnaiw, anthropometric meawremenl, activity pattern. and, nutrient intake assessment. Educatio~ inl1uenced type of work and therefore income ol' the women. Women spent long hours al work (6.0 - 11:l hrs.) daily depending on the season of the year. Teachers met the PAO/WHO recommended requirement for protein, calcium, U1iamin, vitamin A and ascorbic. acid. Farmers met their recommended requirement for .calcium, vitamin A and ascorbic acid. Petty traders met their recommended intake for calcium and vitamin A. The BMI values for the , teachers (23.8±2.5) was higher than those of farmers (21.1 ±2.5) and petty traders (21.0 ±2.3). Hqwever, these three BMI val'.1es wert.: · not statisticall~ different. Teachers had better health seeking behaviour as indicated by the fact that majority (67.7%} of them went to the hospital for treatment of diseases compared to 4.1 % farmers and 8.3 % petty traders. The number of teachers
that went for check-up was also significantly higher (P'< 0.05) than for the
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July 6, 2023
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