CHAPTER IV. RESULTS INTERPRETATION
Figure 3: The prevalence of
gastrointestinal infection according to identified parasites in 50 infected
children.
This figure above shows that the main causal agent of
gastrointestinal infections identified among the stool sample was the yeasts
with 30%, followed by Trichomonas intestinalis (14%), Entamoeba
histolytica (8%), bacterial agents (8%) and 6% of the sample with White
Blood Cells were found. Among the children tested for malaria, 16% were found
to be infected by Plasmodium malaria at trophozoites stage.
Figure 4: Classification of
children ages and infections
This figure shows that the highest prevalence of infections
was found in children from 25 months to 5years (34%), followed by children from
13 to 24 months (32%), from 0 to 6 months (18%) and children from 7 to 12
months (16%).
Figure 5: Gender presentation
of children infected by gastrointestinal parasite.
The above figure shows that among the 50 children tested, 19
were girls with percentage of 73.60% positive and 26% unidentified infections,
31 were boys with a percentage of 77.4% positive and 22.5% with unidentified
infections.
Figure 6: Category of
malnutrition according to different methods
This figure shows that considering Weight for age method 4%
present moderate and 4% severe underweight. By Length for age method no
underweight observed and by Weight for height method 44% children present
underweight.
Figure 7: Prevalence of
malnutrition among children according to the infectious agents
According to the figure above, the majority of the infected
children were moderately underweight. A positive relationship seems to exist
between Trichomonas intestinalis and underweight, as 100% of the
children infected by Trichomonas intestinalis were moderately
underweight. Also, 66.6% of the children with double infections (bacteria and
yeasts) were also moderately underweight.
Figure 8: Percentage of
parents who agree that their children have sufficient nutrition and sufficient
weight
Interviewed parents responded that the nutrition and the
weight of most of children below 6 months are sufficient (88.9%) because they
are breasted by their mothers. But for children from7 to 12 months, the
percentage of responders who answered that the nutrition and weight are
sufficient is low (12.5%) and (37.5%). And the level of satisfaction was even
lower for older children as only 5.9% and 6.3% of parents agreed that the
nutrition and the weight of their children between 13 months and 5 years old
were sufficient. They said that children above 6 months lack a balanced diet
due to economic reason.
Figure 9: Order of taking
meal.
According to interviewed parents, none of the children from 0
to 6 months eat and drink porridge, (88.9%) are breasted by their mothers. The
times of breastfeeding decrease when age increase from 88.9% to 18.8%. Unless
children from 0 to 6 months who did not drink porridge, more than 80% of
children from7 months to 5 years drink porridge. The times of eating increase
with age of children as they become mature. But the percentage of children
eating more than 2 times per day remains low, with not more than 43.8% among
the 25 months to 5 years.
Figure 10: Classification of
children ages and percentage of children taking food.
This figure shows the all children from 0 to 6 months eat any
meal; they feed on the milk of their mothers. The consummation of vegetables
and beans was high among all age groups, but the percentage of children eating
vegetable increased slightly from 7-12 months (62.5%) to 25 months-5years
(75%), while the one of beans increased from 87.5% to 93.8%. The consummation
of fruits is quite low among the 7-12 months (25%), but increased between 13-24
months to 52.9% to reach 68.7% for the children over 25 months. The children
consuming meats, eggs and milk remains below 20% throughout all ages groups.
The consummation of meat and eggs even decreased from 12.5% among the 7-12
months to 6.2% among the 25 months- 5 years. The consummation of milk only
increased slightly from 12.5% among the 7-12 months to 18.7% among the 25
months- 5 years.
Figure 11: Children
habits.
This figure shows that 0% of 0 to 6 months children drink
water and 88.9% feed (breast) on their parents. A high percentage of children
from 7 months to 5 years take food without their parents and drink unboiled
water. The percentage of children taking food with their parents and drink
boiled water decrease according to the increasing of age (12.5% to 6.2%). It is
constant to children from 7 to 12 months (12.5%).
Figure 12: Children health.
Children sickness times increase with age (11.1 to 62.5%). The
highest prevalence of symptoms is found in children under 6 months (88.9%) and
decrease with increasing of age, unless 25 months to 5 years the percentage is
less increased. The percentages of children manifesting symptoms more than one
day per week at all age were low.
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