AB007. Alcohol & child health in rural Kenya: patterns of use, abuse and associations with child health

Abstract

Alcohol is one of the leading contributors to non-communicable disease in the developed and developing world. Children of alcoholic parents have more emotional & health problems, school failure, learning disabilities, and criminality than their counterparts. There are limited studies describing the relationship between parental alcoholism and child malnutrition. In 2014, rates of malnutrition increased at Kisii Teaching & Refferal Hospital in Western Kenya. Community-based participatory research in the Gesoni sub-location of Kisii revealed alcoholism to be a primary perceived cause of adverse child health outcomes and a major health priority for the community. To determine the prevalence of alcohol use and associations with adverse child health outcomes in Gesoni, Kenya.