Given Hapunda

200 Results Socio-economic data was collected in order to assess the household status of the participants. The results reported in the study indicate that poverty was still a main factor as the majority of the caregivers were unemployed, with the highest unemployment rate in the Vaal regione (85%) compared with Evaton West (73%) and Soshanguve (84%). However, all groups had high educational levels, where the majority of the caregivers in all three study areas had secondary and even a college education. Mothers were the main caregivers of the children and also responsible for taking care of the households. Malnutrition was still prevalent in all three study areas as both experimental groups had high prevalence of stunting (Evaton West [52.4%] and Soshanguve [61.6%]), underweight (19.0% for both areas) and overweight (EvatonWest [7.0%] and Soshanguve [5.8%]) whereas there was a low prevalence in the control group. However there was significant improvement after the intervention. High Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) was also observed in all three study groups, with the Evaton West group having the highest (17.5%) prevalence rate followed by Soshanguve (14.7%) and the Vaal region (9.9%). After the intervention Soshanguve and Vaal region showed improvement IDA whereas Evaton West did not show improvement. Conclusion Poverty, unemployment and food insecurity are the major household problems identified and all of this affect the nutritional status and well-being of the children. Even though the nutritional status of the children improved, malnutrition is still prevalent among young children; pre-school children were stunted and underweight and also had iron deficiency anaemia, even after the intervention. This might have been caused by some other diseases such as HIV/AIDs and also the time-frame of the intervention. However, despite what has been mentioned above, there has been some improvement in the nutritional status of the children. Focus Box 1: Sorghum meal A sorghum meal plays a big role in African content as it alleviates food insecurity and malnutrition. It contains essential nutrients such as unsaturated fats, protein, fibre and minerals; phosphorus, potassium, calcium and iron which are vital for the human body