Malnutrition associated factors on children under 5 years old in Lhaviyani Atoll, Maldives

Mariyam Asra; Xiaofang Lin; Ijaz Ul Haq; Asfia Banu Pasha; Yingying Shao; Rui Qin; Manli Hu; Ye Ding; Zhixu Wang

doi:10.7555/JBR.33.20180141

Malnutrition associated factors on children under 5 years old in Lhaviyani Atoll, Maldives

J Biomed Res. 2019 Mar 29;34(4):301-308. doi: 10.7555/JBR.33.20180141.

Authors

Mariyam Asra¹, Xiaofang Lin¹, Ijaz Ul Haq², Asfia Banu Pasha³, Yingying Shao¹, Rui Qin¹, Manli Hu¹, Ye Ding¹, Zhixu Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China.
² Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China.
³ Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China.

Abstract

In this report, we aimed to analyze the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among children under 5 years of age in Lhaviyani Atoll, Maldives. A total of 800 children (under 5 years old) and their mothers were selected for this study. Data was collected by using a pretested questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were taken from the hospital record book. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression were used to find the association between nutritional status and determinants. The distribution of height for age and weight for age in surveyed children in Maldives was skewed to the left compared with the WHO standard. The prevalence of undernutrition based on underweight (10.75%), stunting (13.5%), and wasting (9.60%) was estimated to be 23.85% among children. Child age, gender and mother's education were significantly associated with undernutrition ( P<0.05). Our survey highlighted that better nutritional interventions are needed to improve child health in this region.

Keywords: Maldives; stunting; undernutrition.