Prevalence and determinants of malnutrition among primary school going children in the haor areas of Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh

Khanam, Shimlin Jahan; Haque, Md. Aminul

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of malnutrition (stunting, wasting, underweight) among primary school going children in haor area of Bangladesh, to identify the determinants for which the rates of malnutrition differ among the study population and to analyse the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and malnutrition among primary school going children. DESIGN: The study was conducted in the haor areas of Kishoreganj district in Bangladesh. A cross sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 400 children of aged 5–10 years using semi-structured questionnaire. The outcomes variables considered were stunting, wasting and underweight calculated following the World Health Organization anthropometric guidelines of 2006. Children and their parents’ socio-demographic characteristics were considered as the exposure variables. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the respondents. Binary logistic regression model was used to determine the factors associated with the malnutrition. RESULTS: Around half (48%) of the total children analysed were wasted at the time of the survey following around 40.5% were underweight and 38% were stunted. The likelihoods of occurring stunting, wasting and underweight were found higher among female children than their male counterpart. The prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight were 39%, 54% and 45% among girls whereas the prevalence was 36%, 42% and 36% among the boys, respectively. The likelihoods of becoming malnourished were found to be increased with the increase ages of the children, from the ages 5–6 years. Higher the number of children in the family and delay of giving complementary food after six months were also found associated with the higher odds of becoming malnourished. In contrary, increased meal frequency, solvency with land ownership were found associated with the reduced odds of becoming malnourished. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of malnutrition among primary school going children in haor areas of Bangladesh is higher than its other geographical regions. The prevalence is even higher among the female children. Proper nutritional education of parents is important along with the supports for the parents who do not have the capacity to provide nutritional food for their children. Parents of the female children should be given priority.