PHYSICAL HEALTH PROBLEMS AND PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE USE OF STREET CHILDREN IN IBADAN MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

Street children are vulnerable to physical, social and health problems. However, the data on the health status of street children in Ibadan are scarce. This study was conducted to determine the physical health problems and psychoactive substance use of street children in Ibadan municipality.

In this cross-sectional survey, 304 consenting children who admitted spending over 6 hours on the street were enrolled from 10 randomly selected clusters (1 major market and 4 motor-parks per LGA) in two out of five Local Government Areas (North-East and South-East) in Ibadan. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic information, history of health problems for which treatment was sought 3-months prior to the study and psychoactive substance use. In-depth Interviews (IDI) were conducted among 10 purposively selected participants. Respondents’ weight and height were measured and compared with the National Centre for Health Statistics standard reference. The Z-scores for height-for-age, weight-for-height, weight-for-age and Body Mass Index (BMI)-for-age were computed. Values <-2.0 were regarded as stunting, wasting, underweight and thinness respectively. The IDI data were processed using content analysis while descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used for quantitative data.

Respondents’ mean age was 15.2±1.4 years and 87.8% were males. Seventy-four percent were out of school and 26% attended school infrequently. About 14.8% always sleep on the street, 17.1% did so most times, 27.6% occasionally and 40.5% never slept on the street. Respondents mainly worked as bus-conductors (25.0%), hawkers (24.7%), scrap-pickers (18.8%), and porters (14.8%). Respondents’ median daily earning was N500.00 (N20- N2500), with scrap-pickers earning the highest (N700-N2500) followed by bus-conductors (N500-N2000). Sixty percent of the respondents were stunted, 43.8% were underweight, and none was wasted. Majority (82.8%) had normal BMI-for-age. Few were moderately thin (7.5%), severely thin (7.8%), and overweight (1.9%). Majority (74.7%) of the respondents had experienced at least one health problem including physical injuries (55.5%), high fever (35.5%), gastrointestinal symptoms (11.8%), and muscular cramps (3.6%). Overall, 62.0% of the children were currently using at least one psychoactive substance including palm wine (40.5%), local gin (27.6%), marijuana (26.0%) and cigarette (24.3%). The use of psychoactive substance was significantly related to frequency of sleeping on the streets. More of the respondents who frequently slept on the streets (71.1%) experienced at least one health problem three months prior to the study for which treatment was sought compared with those who occasionally slept on the streets (67.9%) and those who never did so (52.8%)(p<0.05). The IDI participants had experienced major health challenges and consumed some psychoactive substances.

The street children experienced significant health problems especially stunting, underweight and physical injuries. Those who slept on the street are more vulnerable to psychoactive substance use. There is the need to design interventions aimed at rehabilitating street children.

Keywords: Physical health, Street children, Substance use Word count: 451