DIVERSITY IN FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN CHILDREN FROM 6 TO 59 MONTHS IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF ABOMEY CALAVI-SOUTHEAST OF BENIN (WEST AFRICA)

Background: Dietary diversity is the number of food groups consumed over a specific period of time and its measurement is a tool to assess the quality of the diet at the household and individual level. Goal: Analyze the relationship between dietary diversity and nutritional status of children 06-59 months in the town of Abomey. Materials and methods This is a cross-sectional survey with descriptive and analytical referred through questionnaires and targeted anthropometric measurements of 331 children aged 6 to 59 months with 52.3% male and 47.7% female and their mothers . For the size of our sample we selected 377 households randomly in two (02) Rural Districts and (02) Urban Districts of the Commune of Abomey. Several types of data were collected: anthropometric data, health and socio-economic data on agricultural diversity, consumption and dietary diversity of children. From these data were calculated Z-scores of weight for age, weight for height, the height-for-age and dietary diversity score. Results The results show that the prevalence is higher in rural than urban areas regardless of the form of malnutrition. Also, stunting is the form of malnutrition that affects more children 40.8% in rural areas and 29.6% in urban areas. Furthermore, the average dietary diversity score was 6.51 ? 1.2 in rural areas against 6.31 ? 1.5 in urban areas. Conclusion The dietary diversity score apparently has no effect on the nutritional status of children under 5 years in the Commune of Abomey.