Deterioration in the nutritional status of young children and their mothers in Brazzaville, Congo, following the 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc

The effects of the January 1994 devaluation of the African Financial Commun ity (CFA) franc on the nutritional situation of the populations concerned h as been little documented. We report in this article on two nutritional cro ss-sectional surveys that were conducted before and after this devaluation (1993 and 1996) in two districts of Brazzaville, Congo. The surveys involve d a representative sample of 4206 households with a child aged 4-23 months. Complementary feeding practices and the anthropometric indices of the chil dren and their mothers were compared, adjusting for changes in household so cioeconomic characteristics. The results show a decline in the quality of t he first complementary foods offered to the infants, i,e. less frequent use of special transitional foods and imported complementary flours (of higher nutritional quality), and preparation of less nutritious local gruels. Ove rall, the nutritional situation had deteriorated, with greater levels of st unting and wasting among children, mothers with lower body mass index, and infants with reduced birth weights. Increased food prices would appear to b e the direct cause of the decreased quality in complementary feeding, but f actors other than the devaluation have also had an impact on household welf are. The influence of these factors on nutritional status is discussed.