ASSESSING THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF 6 – 59 MONTHS CHILDREN IN BUDHNAGAR VDC, MORANG

Abstract

A community based cross sectional study was conducted for assessing the nutritional status of 6-59 months children and its associated factors in Budhnagar VDC. For the study, 165 children were selected by random sampling. A structured questionnaire was administered to the mothers or care taker. Anthropometric measurements were used to determine if the children were underweight (weight-for-age), wasting (weight-for-height) and stunting (height-for-age) based on WHO reference. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) 20 version and World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro 3.2.2 version were used for analyzing the data. Chi-square test was used to identify the associated factors of malnutrition. The analysis of the study revealed that, 41.2%, 32.7% and 11.5% of children were stunted, underweight and wasted, respectively. The main associated factor of stunting was child age. Similarly, underweight was associated with age of mother and iron intake was associated with wasting. Result from this study concluded that under nutrition is still an important problem among children aged 6-59 months in Budhnagar VDC. Furthermore, Child age, Iron intake of mothers and the age of mother are major risk factor of malnutrition and especial attention should be given on intervention of malnutrition