A Food recommendation system for weaning of children in Kenya using rule-based technique
Date
2024
Authors
Ndemo, D. M.
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Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Childhood malnourishment is a key worldwide health concern that affects millions of children globally. It can lead to stunting, wasting, and underweight conditions, as well as micronutrient deficiencies. These conditions can have far-reaching consequences, including stunted growth and development, suboptimal academic performance, and compromised overall health.
One major cause of childhood malnutrition is poor feeding practices, particularly during the weaning stage. Parents and caregivers often lack the knowledge and resources they need to provide infants and young children with the balanced diets they require. There is also a large human resources gap in the Kenyan healthcare system, where there aren’t enough nutritionists and dietitians to attend to the population and give professional child feeding advice. A way to solve this knowledge gap has been to develop food recommendation systems that help users in making more informed food choices based on their current health status. Many of these systems are tailored for adult populations such as patients with chronic diseases.
This study developed a food recommendation system that is tailored to the specific needs of a child, considering factors such as age, weight and height. The system sought to utilize rule-based technique to develop a food recommendation system that would serve as a decision support system for parents and caregivers. The rule-based system was built using Experta, and contained in a full-stack web application that was developed using Flask and React. A comprehensive and diverse food database was adapted from the Kenya Food Composition Tables. The system provided tailored nutrition feedback on amount and frequency of feeding, as well as nutritionally balanced food recommendations in the suggested meal plan. This system not only considered calorie needs but also emphasized nutrient diversity to ensure that children are getting the key micronutrients they need. The system is also usable by healthcare workers to fill the nutrition technical skills gap in healthcare facilities.
Keywords: nutrition, weaning, information science, informatics, rule-based technique, decision-support system, recommendation systems.
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Full - text thesis
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Citation
Ndemo, D. M. (2024). A Food recommendation system for weaning of children in Kenya using rule-based technique [Strathmore University]. http://hdl.handle.net/11071/15792