Assessment of Nutritional Status Using Anthropometric Methods: A Study of Rural and Urban Primary Children in Coastal Belt of Bangladesh

Abstract

This study deals with the assessment of nutritional status of rural and urban primary school going children in coastal belt of Bangladesh. Anthropometric data were collected from anthropological survey among 200 participants of twenty primary schools. Ten of these were from urban area and ten were from rural area and equal percentages of participants were taken from boys and girls who were selected randomly. The study found that rural school going children suffering more from under nutrition (Stunting, wasted, and underweight) problem where overweight and obesity is the major problem for urban children. It is also found that the health status of boys is slightly better than girls from rural area. Such as in rural area percentages of underweight girls are more than boy. But in case of urban area of Barisal the nutritional condition of girls is better than the boys. The study found remarkable deference of nutritional between rural and urban girls. Thinness and underweight is the major problem for rural girls but it is less in urban girls.