Nutritional status and its associated factors among under five years Muslim children of Kapilvastu district, Nepal
Chet Kant Bhusal1, Sigma Bhattarai2, Pradip Chhetri1
1Department of Community Medicine, Universal College of Medical Sciences and Teaching Hospital, Tribhuvan University, Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, Nepal.
Insights
Malnutrition is a significant public health issue for under-five Muslim children in Nepal, with high rates of underweight, stunting, and wasting. Interventions addressing family structure, parental education, and child health are crucial for improving nutritional status.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Pediatrics
- Nutrition Science
Background:
- Malnutrition represents a critical global public health challenge, particularly impacting Southeast Asia.
- This research focuses on the nutritional status and contributing factors among Muslim children under five years old in Nepal's Kapilvastu district.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the nutritional status of Muslim children under five in Kapilvastu, Nepal.
- To identify factors associated with malnutrition in this specific demographic.
Main Methods:
- A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted involving 336 Muslim children aged 6-59 months.
- Multistage probability random sampling was employed, selecting three local units and then specific wards within those units.
- Household data collection and simple random sampling of children were facilitated by Female Community Health Volunteers.
Main Results:
- Approximately half of the children were underweight, with significant rates of stunting (63.1%) and wasting (17.3%).
- Factors associated with underweight included family size, family type, living arrangements, parental education, school enrollment, land ownership, and history of chronic diseases.
- Wasting was linked to parental education levels, school enrollment, land ownership, and chronic illness history.
- Stunting was associated with gender, living area, family type, living arrangements, father's education, and land ownership.
Conclusions:
- The prevalence of underweight, wasting, and stunting among under-five Muslim children exceeds public health thresholds and national averages.
- Urgent, collaborative interventions by governmental and non-governmental organizations are recommended.
- Interventions should focus on education, parental support, timely school enrollment, disease prevention, income generation, and food security within Muslim communities.
Background:
Malnutrition is a major public health problem throughout the world especially in Southeast Asia. This study aims to find out nutritional status and its associated factors among under five Muslim children of Kapilvastu district Nepal.
Methods:
Community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 336 under five Muslim children in Kapilvastu district Nepal from December 2021 to May 2022. Multistage probability random sampling was used. Among ten local units, three were selected randomly. Then from selected three units, two wards from each unit which covers large proportion of Muslim were selected purposively. After selecting wards, listing of household having children 6 to 59 months was done with the help of Female Community Health Volunteers and 56 children were selected by simple random sampling from each wards.
Results:
About half of Muslim children were underweight, 0.9% were overweight, 17.3% were wasted and 63.1% were stunted. Children with >4 members in family (AOR = 2.82, CI: 1.25-6.38), joint/extended family (AOR = 0.33, CI: 0.16-0.68), living with other than parents (AOR = 2.68, CI: 1.38-5.21), mother having primary (AOR = 2.59, CI: 1.09-6.10) and fathers having SLC and above education (AOR = 0.41, CI: 0.19-0.89), school going children (AOR = 0.27, CI: 0.15-0.48), no having agricultural land (AOR = 2.68, CI: 1.55-4.65), history of chronic diseases (AOR = 3.01, CI = 1.06-8.54) were significantly associated with underweight. Mothers having secondary (AOR = 0.30, CI: 0.10-0.88) and fathers having primary education (AOR = 3.50, CI: 1.26-9.74), school going children (AOR = 0.16, CI: 0.06-0.41), no having own land (AOR = 4.73, CI: 2.13-10.48), history of child chronic disease (AOR = 3.55, CI = 1.38-9.12) were significantly associated with wasting. Similarly, male children (AOR = 1.70, CI: 1.01-2.85), living in rural area (AOR = 0.17, CI: 0.09-0.31), joint/extended family (AOR = 0.28, CI: 0.13-0.64), living with other than parents (AOR = 3.71, CI: 1.84-7.49), fathers having secondary education (AOR = 0.50, CI: 0.27-0.94) and no having own land (AOR = 1.95, CI: 1.13-3.37) were significantly associated with stunting.
Conclusions:
Underweight, wasting and stunting in under-five Muslim children were above the cutoff point from the significant level of public health and higher than national data. Hence, this study suggests collaborative and immediate attention from responsible governmental and non-governmental organizations working in nutrition for providing informal learning opportunity, intervention regarding parental support to child, school enrolment at appropriate age, prevention and treatment of children's chronic diseases, intervention for income generating activities and addressing problems of household food insecurity among Muslim communities.
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