INTRAHOUSEHOLD CORRELATIONS IN MATERNAL-CHILD NUTRITIONAL-STATUS IN RURAL GUINEA - IMPLICATIONS FOR PROGRAM-SCREENING STRATEGIES

It is commonly assumed in public health practice that households in de veloping country settings are relatively homogeneous with respect to n utritional status. To the extent that this assumption is valid, nutrit ional assessments of mothers or individual children would provide an e ffective screening mechanism for household-level maternal-child nutrit ional risk. However, there has been no confirmation of the strength of intra-household correlations in nutritional status among women and ch ildren. Using data from a cross-sectional survey undertaken in 1990 in rural central Guinea, the present study investigates the nature of wi thin-household relationships in maternal and child nutritional status and considers the implications for programme screening strategies. Mot hers and their surviving children under 5 years of age are the focus o f the analysis. Correlations between maternal and child nutritional le vels are assessed and the performance of maternal-child nutritional in dicators as screening tools for household nutritional risk are formall y evaluated by analysing the sensitivity specificity, and positive-neg ative predictive values of various indicators.