Child fostering, health and nutritional status: The experience of Swaziland

In developing countries, as women increasingly engage in economic activity away from home, foster care of children appears to have become more common. Because fostered children may receive less attention, it has been hypothesized that fostering may adversely affect nutritional status and health. A nutrition survey conducted in 1983 in rural Swaziland on 4683 children < 6 years of age allowed an examination of fostering practices and their association with health services utilization and nutritional status. Fostered children are defined as those whose biologic mother is not a member of the homestead or is absent more than 50% of the time. Fostering increases with age. Guardians are older than biologic mothers and have a lower literacy rate. Fostered children are less likely than non‐fostered children to be fully immunized. Fostered and non‐fostered children have similar histories of MCH clinic attendance. After adjustment for socio‐demographic factors, nutritional status of fostered and non‐fostered children does not differ significantly. This study shows a high prevalence of fostering, but does not support the hypothesis of an association between fostering and poorer health as measured by nutritional status.