Childhood vitamin A capsule supplementation coverage in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis of geographic and socioeconomic inequities

Type Journal Article - TSW Child Health & Human Development
Title Childhood vitamin A capsule supplementation coverage in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis of geographic and socioeconomic inequities
Author(s)
Volume 10
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2010
Page numbers 1901-1914
URL http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2010/452878.pdf
Abstract
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a huge public health burden among preschool-agedchildren in sub-Saharan Africa, and is associated with a high level of susceptibility toinfectious diseases and pediatric blindness. We examined the Nigerian national vitaminA capsule (VAC) supplementation program, a short-term cost-effective intervention forprevention of VAD-associated morbidity for equity in terms of socioeconomic andgeographic coverage. Using the most current, nationally representative data from the2008 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey, we applied multilevel regression analysison 19,555 children nested within 888 communities across the six regions of Nigeria. Theresults indicate that there was variability in uptake of VAC supplement among thechildren, which could be attributed to several characteristics at individual, household,and community levels. Individual-level characteristics, such as maternal occupation,were shown to be associated with receipt of VAC supplement. The results also revealthat household wealth status is the only household-level characteristic that issignificantly associated with receipt of VAC, while neighborhood socioeconomicdisadvantage and geographic location were the community-level characteristics thatdetermined receipt of VAC. The findings from this study have shown that both individualand contextual socioeconomic status, together with geographic location, is important foruptake of VAC. These findings underscore the need to accord the VAC supplementationprogram the much needed priority with focus on characteristics of neighborhoods(communities), in addition to individual-level characteristics

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