A Descriptive Analysis of Children’s Nutritional Status and its Associated Factors in Bangladesh: Insights from Demographic and Health Survey Data

Abstract

This study was designed to close the gaps in presenting and exploring the nutritional trends and status of children in Bangladesh since there are only a few studies that can be found on the subject matter. For this, secondary data from the 2017-2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) were used. Analyses were conducted using tabular and graphical analysis. This study has found that all of the significant indicators of children’s nutritional status such as stunting, wasting, underweight and mortality status in Bangladesh have improved during the last few decades though the pace of this improvement in case of wasting is somewhat slow. The study has also found variations in children’s nutritional status when the factors, such as children’s age, gender, residential location, mother’s education level, and household wealth are considered. Regarding childcare practices, there are massive improvements in terms of vaccinations compilation, ORS treatment of children with Diarrhea but the improvement in terms of feeding practices is slightly slower than satisfactory. Therefore, this study suggests that the government and non-government agencies should take proper measures to increase the pace of improvement in children’s nutritional status in Bangladesh.