TABLE 2.

Knowledge of caregivers’ of children under five years old about mycotoxins in Kerio Valley, Elgeyo Marakwet County

Administrative wards
Questions regarding mycotoxins knowledge	Total (n = 353)		Emsoo (n = 118)		Endo (n = 117)		Arror (n = 118)		χ2 value	p‐value
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
1. Heard of mycotoxins? Yes	70	19.8	23	19.5	30	25.6	17	14.4	4.677	0.096
2. Heard of aflatoxin? Yes	215	60.9	66	55.9	80	68.4	69	58.5	4.261	0.119
3. Heard of fumonisin? Yes	89	25.2	24	20.3	36	30.8	29	24.6	3.428	0.180
4. Can mention foods that can be contaminated by aflatoxin? Yes	195	90.7	60	90.9	72	90.0	63	1.3	0.080	0.961
5. Can mention foods that can be contaminated by fumonisin? Yes	57	64.0	17	70.8	20	69.0	20	55.6	1.912	0.384
6. Able to identify spoilt sorghum grains? Yes	327	92.6	108	91.5	111	94.9	108	91.5	1.284	0.526
7. Do you know the causes of mold growth in foods? Yes	321	90.9	109	92.4	103	88.0	109	92.4	1.786	0.409
8. Does consumption of mycotoxins contaminated food has any negative health effects? Yes	238	67.4	68	57.6	74	63.2	96	81.4	28.939	0.001*
9. Do aflatoxins and fumonisins in complementary foods cause:
1. Stunting? Yes	144	40.8	38	32.2	43	36.8	63	53.4	15.207	0.004*
2. Impaired immunity? Yes	162	45.9	40	33.9	51	43.6	71	60.7	22.974	0.001*
3. Abdominal pain? Yes	230	65.2	68	57.6	74	63.2	88	74.6	11.756	0.019*
4. Diarrhea? Yes	239	67.7	70	59.3	84	71.8	85	72.0	7.657	0.105
Source of information about mycotoxins									16.308	0.178
Mass media (e.g., radio)	86	39.4	24	36.9	34	42.0	28	38.9
Agricultural extension officers	41	18.8	11	16.9	17	21.0	13	18.1
Friends/neighbors	41	18.8	10	15.4	17	21.0	14	19.4
Reading	35	16.1	18	27.7	8	9.9	9	12.5
Seminars/experts	12	5.5	2	3.1	5	6.2	5	6.9
Women group	1	0.5	‐	‐	‐	‐	1	1.4
AVCD‐DT Project	2	0.9	‐	‐	‐	‐	2	2.8
Knowledge score
Poor	218	61.8	84	71.2	66	56.4	68	57.6	6.711	0.035*
Good	135	38.2	34	28.8	51	43.6	50	42.4

^* p <.05 significant by chi‐squaretest.