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Socio-demographic risk factors for severe malnutrition in children aged under five among various birth cohorts in Bangladesh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2020

Mohammad Rocky Khan Chowdhury Open the ORCID record for Mohammad Rocky Khan Chowdhury [Opens in a new window] ,
Hafiz T. A. Khan ,
Md. Nazrul Islam Mondal  and
Russell Kabir Open the ORCID record for Russell Kabir [Opens in a new window]
Mohammad Rocky Khan Chowdhury*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, First Capital University of Bangladesh, Chuadanga, Bangladesh College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, University of West London, UK Department of Population Science and Human Resource Development, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Hafiz T. A. Khan
Affiliation:
College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, University of West London, UK
Md. Nazrul Islam Mondal
Affiliation:
Department of Population Science and Human Resource Development, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Russell Kabir
Affiliation:
School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: rurocky84@gmail.com
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Abstract

Tackling malnutrition is a major health priority for a developing country like Bangladesh. This study explored the differences in prevalence of having only one form, and multiple forms, of severe malnutrition (stunting, wasting and underweight) among under-5 children in Bangladesh, and aimed to identify the important factors affecting these. Data were extracted from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Surveys conducted in 2007, 2011 and 2014. The outcome measures were ‘only one form’ and ‘multiple forms’ of severe malnutrition in children aged under 5 years. A Chi-squared test was performed to find the association of outcome variables with selected socio-demographic factors and logistic regression models were applied to identify risk factors. A total of 19,874 children aged under 5 years were included in the analysis. The overall proportion with one form of severe child malnutrition was approximately 12%, and the proportion with multiple forms was 8%. Age, mother’s education, father’s occupation, mother currently working, watching television, source of water, solid waste used in cooking, intimate partner violence (IPV), wealth index, urban/rural place of residence and birth cohort were found to be significant factors for both having only one and having multiple forms of severe child malnutrition. Children with an uneducated mother of poor socioeconomic class had a higher risk of severe malnutrition. Children of fathers with a professional occupation were at lower risk of having multiple forms of severe malnutrition. The proportions of children aged under 5 years with one or multiple forms of severe malnutrition were shown to be high in Bangladesh. The prevention of malnutrition in the country should be seen as a significant public health issue and given top priority.

Keywords

Socio-demographicUnder-5 childSevere malnutrition
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , July 2021 , pp. 590 - 605
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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