Browsing by Author "Kimywe, Judith"

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Knowledge and Utilisation of Lodised Salt by School Children and Food Vendors in Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaKnowledge and Utilisation of Lodised Salt by School Children and Food Vendors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(EAHR, 2023-11-30) Venance, Mario; Kimywe, Judith; Martin, Haikael
Background: Universal Salt Iodisation (USI) is globally accepted as a cost-effective strategy for controlling Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD). However, there is a paucity of data on the proper use of iodised salt among food vendors. Thus, the present study assessed the School food environments and iodised salt practices among school food vendors in Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 322 school children and 30 school food vendors. A stratified multistage followed by a systematic random sampling technique was used to recruit schools and children. Salt samples were collected from food vendors and analyzed using the iodine rapid field test kit and then analyzed quantitatively using an iodometric titration method. The data on knowledge, attitude, and practices was collected using customized Iodine deficiency-related questionnaires recommended by FAO to assess iodine deficiency-related factors. For school food environments, 3 tools were designed and used to get information; the teachers, students, and school food vendors’ tools. A chi-square test was used to establish an association between variables. Results: About 76.7% of the salt samples from school food vendors were adequately iodised (≥15 ppm) with the mean iodine content of 39.26 ± 11.06. More than half (70%) of the food sold around school compound were junk food. Half (63.3%) of the food vendors had poor practices of iodised salt utilisation. Conclusion: A substantial achievement has been made in awareness creation of the importance of using iodised salt. Nonetheless, there is a limited knowledge on salt handling practices including discretionary salt use exacerbated by poor school food environment. To optimally eliminate IDDs, the government should now place more emphasis on proper salt handling practices from the production site, food handlers, and much more to consumers. School children should be encouraged on healthy eating habits, by improving school feeding programs and change the current food environments in schools
Prevalence and Predictors of Obesity among 7- to 17-Year-Old Schoolchildren in Urban Arusha, Tanzania
(Hindawi, 2019-10-29) Chomba, Haji; Martin, Haikael; Kimywe, Judith
Background. Childhood obesity is currently increasing at an alarming rate worldwide. Childhood obesity research has not been reported in urban Arusha before. )is is therefore the first study to investigate the prevalence and predictors of childhood obesity in urban Arusha. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 451 schoolchildren. Overweight was defined to range from 85th to 94th BMI percentile for age and sex while obesity was defined as above 94th BMI percentile for age and sex. Chi-square test was used for comparison between child sex and sociobehaviors, and multiple logistic regression was used to determine the significant predictor factors at P values � 0.05. Results. )e overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 17.7% (80/451) with 12.6% (57/451) being obese and 5.1% (23/451) being overweight. Results from univariate logistic regression showed child sex, random sleeping time, and random eating habit were the significant predictor factors. However, when all the predictor factors were used in the final multiple logistic regression model, only random sleeping time and random eating habit of different food items irrespective of their nature were significant at P � 0.000, AOR� 4.47, and 95% CI � 2.00–10.01, and P � 0.012, AOR� 2.54, and 95% CI � 1.23–5.33, respectively. Conclusions. )e prevalence of obesity was as higher as twice the prevalence observed in other previous studies in Tanzania. Being a girl, random sleeping time and random eating habit were independent predictors. In addition to larger sample sizes, longitudinal studies are needed in order to track individuals and population level trends in BMI over time.