77
Thererore, it is clear from the survey that the people of Oyo LGA eat nutritionally balanced meals. However, it is not possible from the survey to determine whether those households WIth pregnant women and children receIved an adequate amount of the nutr ients necessary for a heal thy and productive 1 i fe. For this information, a food consumption survey (which will require more time and resources than were made available for this study) is needed. The average number of children born alive to each woman during the five-year period from 1980-1985 ranged from 1.5 in Imini to 1. 7 in lware. This figure is expected in rural areas where lactation is usually prolonged and sex with a nursing mother is never practised. Consequently, the children are usually well spaced with about three years between any two children. The study also shows that about a quarter of the children in the study villages were born during the five-year period from 1980-1985. Although the study has limitations primarily because of a laCK of tIme, which did not allow for a thorough and systematic health assessment, it was evident that the sanitary and health conditions of most of the people in the villages surveyed' could be improved much more with provisions of potable water and proper latrines. The study did not reveal any serious apparent symptoms of malnutrItion or undernutrition or goiter that could be related to the villagers' cassava-based dIets or to the lack of sanItatIon. 5.3
Health Assessment of Cassava-Dependent Consumers
The farmers (male and female) were assessed to be in reasonably good health. Tney are well-built and show no signs of malnutrition Dr any serious disease. Of great interest are the children seen in the households that were visited. They look healthy and well-nourished. It is not surprising that the children looked healthy since mothers in rural areas breast-feed their children for as long as 18 months and the local diet also is introduced very early. Household heads and mothers in the Oyo LGA indicated that their families were mostly in good health except for the occasional fever, diarrhea and cough. Patterns of illness In children reported by mothers in the 15 villages studied indicate that 42 percent of the LGA's children frequently suffer from malarIa fever, 39 percent from coughs and 19 percent from