Knowledge on nutrition of mothers having children under five years of age in Lamatar VDC of Lalitpur district.

Thesis Report.

ABSTRACT: Nutrition has played a significant role in human life, even before we were born, although we may not always have been aware of it. And it will continue to affect us in major ways, depending on the foods we select. Each day's choices may benefit or harm humans' health only a little, but when these choices are repeated over years and decades, the rewards or consequences become major. This was the descriptive cross sectional study conducted in Lamatar VDC of Lalipur district with the objective to find out knowledge on nutrition of mothers having the children under five years. A total number of 102 respondents were including in this study that represented 9 different wards of the VDC. Lamatar was selected purposively and the study subject was selected by using simple random sampling method. Only the quantitative data was collected and the information was collected by interview of the respondents. Analysis of the data was done with descriptive, explorative and analytical methods. SPSS was used for data analysis. Overall, 63.7% of the respondent had low level of knowledge (<_14.5 score) and 36.3 %(_> 14.5 score) of mothers had high level of knowledge on nutrition. 84.3% of the respondents were knowledgeable on exclusive breastfeeding and 28.4% on the sources of Vitamin A. The education level of the mothers was significantly associated with accurate nutrition knowledge. This study is the snap shot regarding mother's knowledge on nutrition in the semi urban area of the Kathmandu valley. It unveiled the ground for further (comprehensive) study and give real insights about the knowledge of nutrition. In general, the knowledge of mothers regarding nutrition was low. It is felt that health education can be the effective means to upgrade the knowledge of mothers on nutrients and its consequences in the deficiency of adequate nutrients on diet.