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Background: From birth to 6 months, children must be exclusively breastfed, and from 6 months, food diversification starts to supplement breast milk. This cross-sectional study aims to evaluate some of the feeding practices regarding children aged 6 to 23 months in the city of Ouagadougou. Methods: First, data were food consumption data as well as recalling meals over the past 24 hours were collected. Then, technological and labeling data regarding infant flours produced locally and sold in Ouagadougou were obtained. For analysis, data were entered into Sphinx V5 and IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software, and means were compared using XLSTAT 2016 software. Results: In total, 33 local infant flours were evaluated, and all the formulations contained cereals. Fruits and legumes (30.30%), milk (30.30%), and eggs (0,00%) were the least used materials. Instant type flours were rarely encountered (9.09%), and packaging in plastic bags was consumed the most (57.57%). Regarding labeling information, batch number (28%) and the method of preservation (32%) were the least identified. With respect to food consumption, 94.84% of the children were breastfed and 98.33% aged 6 to 8 months consumed solid foods. At least 85.28% of women considered the age of 6 months for introduction of solid foods. Concerning consumption of infant porridges, imported infant porridges were preferred the most (37.44%). Conclusion: Concerning local infant flour, some of them did not meet WHO guidelines. With regard to food practice indicators in Ouagadougou, some of them are relatively satisfactory; however, there is still a need to raise awareness regarding feeding practices.

Background: To contribute to the fight against malnutrition among women of reproductive age, this study aimed to evaluate the quality of food and the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2018 to September 2018 to explore the frequency and distribution of the dietary, socioeconomic, and health characteristics of pregnant and lactating women as well as their nutritional status. The target population consisted of 124 pregnant women and 118 nursing women age between 15 to 49 years. Results: The prevalence of acute malnutrition was 30.9% among women in general, 1.6% with severe malnutrition according to the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC). In terms of the body mass index (BMI), the prevalence of malnutrition among lactating women was 13.5%; 10.5% with moderate malnutrition and 3.5% with severe malnutrition. The women aged between 15 to 49 years had poor dietary diversity. The mean dietary diversity score (DDS) was estimated at 4.14±0.86. This score was 4.19±0.87 in pregnant women and 4.09 ± 0.85 in lactating women. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between them (P = 0.20 and OR = 0.82) [0.4; 1.4]. A substantial proportion (19.8%) of women had a low DDS (< 5), with a rate of 16.9% among pregnant women and 22.9% among lactating women. Conclusion: This study revealed the presence of food and nutrition insecurity in semi-urban areas, particularly in "undeveloped" areas. Improving the living conditions of the populations in these localities, in parallel with nutritional education actions, could help to reduce the disease.

Background: This study evaluated production technologies of the refined cottonseed oils and crude peanut oils and investigated the edible oils' sales condition in markets of Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso, Africa. Methods: The study was carried out by administering a questionnaire to 316 edible oil sellers in markets, 25 cottonseed oil producers, and 18 crude peanut oil producers. The production technologies and sale conditions such as brands, origins, storage, and packaging were evaluated on the basis of observations and surveys. The edible oils' sale conditions, production conditions of the peanut and cottonseed oils, as well as the means used for production of the aforesaid oils were investigated. Results: The results showed that the crude peanut oils were produced in two ways by only women (100%) using rudimentary means. However, cottonseed oils' production was of three types and mostly dominated by men (96%). The sodium hydroxide (100%), phosphoric acid (36.4%), citric acid (63.6%), filters (100%), and tonsil (80%) were used during refining cottonseed oils. In markets and other places, imported edible oils (94%) were mainly sold and 34.2% of the sellers exposed oils to the sun. Imported edible oils generally came from Ivory Coast, Malaysia, and Indonesia. So, local edible oils were faced with a great competition against the imported oils. These imported oils are from various origins and are mainly consumed with deplorable sale conditions. Conclusion: This study highlighted the production technologies and edible oils' sale conditions. The results of this study can provide the necessary information for the authorities to take measures to ensure the quality of edible oils.

Background: In Burkina Faso, malnutrition is a public health problem. Despite the significant drop in the prevalence of malnutrition since 2009 according to the Directorate of Nutrition, malnutrition is still a major concern with regard to its consequences. The objective of this study was to determine the factors associated with acute malnutrition in children aged 6 to 59 months in the Sabou Health District, Burkina Faso. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted among 343 children aged 6 to 59 months in Sabou Health District, Burkina Faso from August 1st to 30th, 2016. Factors associated with acute malnutrition were dietary factors, family factors, environmental factors, and infectious factors determined using SPSS version 21.0 software. The difference was statistically significant for P-value of less than 0.05. Results: The prevalence of global acute malnutrition in the district was 9.0%, of which 2.6% was severe according to the Brachial Perimeter. Several factors were associated with acute malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in the Sabou health district. Indeed, morbidity was a factor associated with acute malnutrition in children with a P-value of 0.007. The low dietary diversity experienced by food-insecure households was also associated with acute malnutrition in children. Infant and young child feeding practices, i.e., inadequate introduction of complementary foods and low dietary diversity to children were among the factors associated with nutritional status (P = 0.007). Among mothers, 87.5% had heard of malnutrition, 66.5% did not recognize the signs of malnourished in their children, and 92.4% were unaware of the consequences of malnutrition. Conclusion: Based on the results, initiatives and programmes should be established for women, the bearers of life, to enhance their empowerment and educate them with regard to the integral growth of children, the builders of tomorrow.