Early Bapedi growth in Sekhukuniland, Transvaal, South Africa

Abstract

The results of a mixed longitudinal and cross sectional study of attained weights of 533 Pedi children aged three months to five years, an extracted longitudinal study of 110 children and the study of 19 pairs of twins are described. The data were obtained trom the records of a weekly baby clinic held at the Jane Furse Memorial Hospital in Sekhukuniland, Transvaal, South Africa, during 1956–1963. Pedi weight‐for‐age (Mean ± 2 S.D.) is compared to the Boston Standard (50th and 3rd percentiles) and a “malnutrition line,” drawn at two thirds of the Boston mean. Summer, winter and combined birth cohorts of Pedi children show a spectrum of attained weights in the lower half of the Caucasian norms. After six months of age the Pedi lower range falls into the area designated as dangerously malnourished. The use of weight as an index of malnutrition, and the use of Caucasian norms as meaningful standards for comparison, are discussed. The role of maternal efficiency, acute infections and deprivation in promoting growth failure is assessed; the incidence of overt malnutrition and mental retardation in the extracted longitudinal sample is described.