study
Cameroun
District of Tokombéré
2023
© Lenka Blanarova
Final report Link NCA Tokombere PDF
Executive summary Link NCA Tokombere
Analystes
Lenka Blanárová
Patrizia Pajak
Managing organization
Action Against Hunger / Action Contre la Faim / Acción contra el Hambre
Action Against Hunger / Action Contre la Faim / Acción contra el Hambre
funder
Agence Française de Développement
Agence Française de Développement
Action Against Hunger (AAH) has been working in the Far North region of Cameroon since 2015. In the health district of Tokombéré, AAH implements multiple projects, including CPP 2, one of which specific objectives is to improve the consideration of the underlying factors of undernutrition in the programs and policies of AAH, civil society and the national authorities. The completion of the Link NCA study has made it possible to better understand these multi-sectoral risk factors and to prioritize project interventions, ensuring community engagement at all the phases.
The analyses undertaken during this Link NCA study made it possible to categorize 20 risk factors likely to have an effect on the prevalence of undernutrition (acute malnutrition, chronic malnutrition and underweight) in the study zone. Following a triangulation of data from various sources, five (5) risk factors were identified as having a major impact, seven (7) risk factors were classified as having a large impact and eight (8) risk factors were considered to have a minor impact. Among the major risk factors, two have been identified in the health sector, namely low birth spacing, early, repetitive or unwanted pregnancies and the poor nutritional status of women, one risk factor has been identified in the mental health and care practices sector, namely non-optimal feeding practices for children 6-23 months, one risk factor has been identified in the food security and livelihoods sector, namely namely the low access to sources of income, and one factor has been identified in the gender sector, namely the low social support of women.
Based on available data (MICS 2014, SMART 2017 and DHS 2018), statistical associations through logistic and linear regressions allowed to observe similarities as well as differences between risk factors for acute malnutrition (wasting), stunting and underweight.
Common risk factors for wasting based on weight-for-height z-score, stunting based on height-for-age z-score, and underweight based on weight-for-age z-score include fever, number of births in the household, and consumption of cereals and other vegetables. Common protective factors for these three nutritional deficits include maternal body mass index (BMI) and access to electricity in the household.
The analyses undertaken during this Link NCA study made it possible to categorize 20 risk factors likely to have an effect on the prevalence of undernutrition (acute malnutrition, chronic malnutrition and underweight) in the study zone. Following a triangulation of data from various sources, five (5) risk factors were identified as having a major impact, seven (7) risk factors were classified as having a large impact and eight (8) risk factors were considered to have a minor impact. Among the major risk factors, two have been identified in the health sector, namely low birth spacing, early, repetitive or unwanted pregnancies and the poor nutritional status of women, one risk factor has been identified in the mental health and care practices sector, namely non-optimal feeding practices for children 6-23 months, one risk factor has been identified in the food security and livelihoods sector, namely namely the low access to sources of income, and one factor has been identified in the gender sector, namely the low social support of women.
Based on available data (MICS 2014, SMART 2017 and DHS 2018), statistical associations through logistic and linear regressions allowed to observe similarities as well as differences between risk factors for acute malnutrition (wasting), stunting and underweight.
Common risk factors for wasting based on weight-for-height z-score, stunting based on height-for-age z-score, and underweight based on weight-for-age z-score include fever, number of births in the household, and consumption of cereals and other vegetables. Common protective factors for these three nutritional deficits include maternal body mass index (BMI) and access to electricity in the household.
