NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF 6-59 MONTHS CHILDREN IN RAJBANSHI COMMUNITY, MECHINAGAR MUNICIPALITY, JHAPA

Abstract

Nutritional status of children is a proxy indicator for assessing the entire population health status and one of the major predictors of child survival. Despite the various efforts, malnutrition among children is remaining as a major public health problem in Nepal. The objective of the study was to assess nutritional status among 6-59 months children of Rajbanshi community residing in Mechinagar Municipality, Jhapa. Anthropometric measurements were taken to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among children. A structured questionnaire was administered to the mothers for demographic and socio economic information. As Ms-Excel 2016 was used for database entry; WHO Anthro version 3.2.2 and SPSS version 20 were used to analyze data, and Chi-square test was used to analyze the associated factors of malnutrition. Prevalence of malnutrition among children was 6.25%, 5% and 5% for stunting, underweight and wasting respectively. In addition to these indicators, 6.25% of children were acutely malnourished as measured by MUAC. There was significant association of stunting with continuing breastfeeding for 2 years (P≤0.05), while family type (p=0.023), continuing breastfed for 2 year (p=0.002) and initiation of breastfeeding (p=0.003) were significantly associated with underweight. Moreover, immunization during pregnancy and exclusive breast feeding were statistically significant with wasting. From the findings of this study, it is concluded that malnutrition is still an important problem among Rajbanshi community children of age 6-59 months living in Mechinagar Municipality. Therefore, special attention should be given on intervention of malnutrition at this community.