Prevalence of stunting among pre-school children in food insecure rural households in Sri Lanka

This study was conducted to identify the relationship between food security status and prevalence of under nutrition in preschool children. A sample of 380 households having at-least one child in the age between 2-5 years was selected from rural areas in three districts. Interviewer administered questionnaire, including USDA food security survey module was used to assess the household food security status and anthropometric assessment was used to assess the nutritional status of children. The prevalence of stunting, wasting and under-weight in children were 15.0%, 21.8% and 21.2%, respectively. Prevalence of food secure, food insecure without hunger, food insecure with moderate hunger and food insecure with severe hunger in households were 48.9%, 40.5%, 8.7% and 1.8%, respectively. Prevalence of stunting of the preschool children is significantly associated with their household food security status.

Tropical Agricultural Research Vol. 26 (2): 390 – 394 (2015)