Information Availability and The Effectiveness of Indigenous Practices to Combat Lactation Challenge Among Female Farmers in South Western Nigeria

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess information availability on indigenous practices in order to combat lactation challenge among nursing mothers who are farmers in South West Nigeria. It assessed the perceived effectiveness of the identified indigenous practices to combat lactation challenge. The study also determined the attitude of the respondents towards the use of available indigenous practices to combat lactation challenges. A total of 480 nursing mothers were selected across 30 communities in three South Western Nigeria states based on the number of Local Government Areas in each of the State. Structured interview schedule and questionnaire were used to collect data from the respondents. Frequency, percentage and mean were used to analyse data while chi square and correlation (PPMC and Spearman Rho) were used to test hypotheses. Information was ‘highly available’ on eight out of sixteen indigenous practices for combating lactation challenge identified across the study area. The use of pap has the highest information availability mean value of 2.93 it also has the highest awareness mean value of 3.0. The study further revealed that age (r=0.722, p-value=0.000≤0.05) had strong positive significant association with perceived effectiveness. Marital status (χ2 = 27.67, p=0.000) also have significant relationship with the perceived effectiveness of available information. The level of education (r= -0.56, p-value=0.000≤0.05) had significant but moderate negative association with the perceived effectiveness of available information on indigenous aids to lactation. The study concludes that various indigenous practices to combat lactation challenge were numerous in the study area and further medical empirical research into these indigenous practices should be conducted in order to make them a component of affordable maternal health care solution