Nutritional status and its associated factors among under five years Muslim children of Kapilvastu district, Nepal

Abstract

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.

Prevalence and determinants of stunting among children under 5 years in remote Nepal

“…Our findings showed that male children were more likely to be stunted than females. This is in line with studies conducted in Nepal 39 as well as various studies in Ethiopia and elsewhere, 40,41 which also have reported that under 5 male children are more likely to become stunted than their female counterparts. On the contrary, one of the studies conducted in South Asia found that female children were more likely to be stunted compared to males 42 .…”

A cross-sectional study evaluating the prevalence and predictors of malnutrition among children and adolescents visiting an urban academic hospital in Nepal

“…The association between parental education and nutritional status was only significant when assessed by MUAC, perhaps due to MUAC being a more sensitive indicator of wasting, especially in the setting of disease (47,48) . Parental education has been associated with wasting in other studies in Nepal and elsewhere (49,50) , as mothers who are less educated have been shown to have the poorest child feeding practices (4) . With this finding, focused interventions aimed at strengthening maternal education may be drawn.…”

Relationship between Family Factors, Food Consumption Behaviors, and Nutritional Status among Muslim School-Age Students in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand

“…These family and economic issues can significantly impact the nutritional status of school-age children. Previous studies have indicated that family size and the primary or formal caregiver are significant factors related to the nutritional status of school-age children [12,13]. The number of siblings was significantly related to nutritional status, with larger family sizes often leading to different nutritional outcomes [12].…”