Abstract:

Background: The pre-MDGs prevalence of underweight among children under five years of age (MDGs goal 1, target 2, and indicator 4) for Nigeria was 35.1% by 1990. How successful was MDGs goal 1, target 2, indicator 4 in rural communities that benefited from MDGs activities in Nigeria? This is the cardinal research question that prompted this work. Objectives: To describe the post-MDGs underweight prevalence among children under-five years of age in the target population. To evaluate the progress made in reducing underweight among children under-five years of age with respect to achieving the MDGs goal 1, in the selected rural communities. Methods: This cross-sectional study used both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected by direct weight measurement of the children under-five years of age from the selected communities, while secondary data were generated from the growth monitoring and delivery registers of the district PHC. Data were collated and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Result: The study recorded an underweight prevalence of 19.3% for children under-five years of age. Prevalence of underweight among the female subjects was 19.2%while their male counterpart was 19.5%. Conclusion: The under-five underweight prevalence for these communities was 19.3% slightly better than the National 2014 prevalence of 19.5%, however, still below the MDGs target of 17.75% at the end of 2015. More effort is therefore needed in the SDGs program to sustain the gain made via the MDGs activities and further improve the nutritional status of children under-five years of age in rural communities.

Keywords: Prevalence, underweight, under-five children, rural communities, SDGs, MDGs goal.

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