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Assessment of Nutritional Status and Its Determinants Among Pre-School Children Within Dalit Communities of Jessore City in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Received: 3 February 2018     Accepted: 24 February 2018     Published: 24 March 2018
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Abstract

Background: The socio-religiously considered low class Dalit communities are living below extreme poverty line in Bangladesh. They face discrimination at all levels of social interactions. Lack of access to education, extreme poverty issues, health and housing problems, and unequal access to work and employment may put this underprivileged community at the risk of malnutrition. Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the nutritional status and associated factors among preschool children within various Dalit communities in Jessore city, Bangladesh. Study Design: A cross sectional study was undertaken among 165 pre-school children (24-60 months) randomly selected from different Dalit families living in Jessore city, Bangladesh. Anthropometric methods and a structured questionnaire were used to collect the required data. WHO based anthropometric Z scores and MUAC (Mid Upper Arm Circumference) indicators were used to measure nutritional status of the children. Data analysis at 5% level of significance was performed by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)-22 software. Results: About 58% and 45% of the studied preschool children were stunted and underweight respectively while 22.5% children were wasted. Nearly 8.5% children were obese or at risk of being obese. Most of the parents were illiterate or just completed only primary education. Mother and father education status was not statistically significant with stunting, wasting and underweight status of pre-school children. Moderate and severe stunting were relatively higher among younger children (p<0.05). According to MUAC assessment 82.4% of the children were normal, 16.9% had mild to moderate and 0.6% was severely malnourished. Most of those malnourished children belonged to younger age groups (p<0.01). MUAC of the children was significant with their mother education status (p<0.05). 61.2% children who suffered diarrhea or pneumonia in last 2 months had lower weight for age (p<0.05) and weight for height (p<0.01) than who didn’t. Conclusions: About half of preschool children among Dalit communities in Jessore city live with chronic malnutrition like stunting and underweight. Maternal health status as well as other socio-demographic factors can affect the nutritional status of children.

Published in International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences (Volume 7, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14
Page(s) 65-70
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Nutritional Status, Preschool Children, Dalit Community, Socio-Demographic

References
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    Akimul Islam, Md Tarek Hasan, Nazia Nawshad Lina, Fatema-Tuj-Johra, Shovon Al-Fuad, et al. (2018). Assessment of Nutritional Status and Its Determinants Among Pre-School Children Within Dalit Communities of Jessore City in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences, 7(2), 65-70. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14

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    ACS Style

    Akimul Islam; Md Tarek Hasan; Nazia Nawshad Lina; Fatema-Tuj-Johra; Shovon Al-Fuad, et al. Assessment of Nutritional Status and Its Determinants Among Pre-School Children Within Dalit Communities of Jessore City in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study. Int. J. Nutr. Food Sci. 2018, 7(2), 65-70. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14

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    AMA Style

    Akimul Islam, Md Tarek Hasan, Nazia Nawshad Lina, Fatema-Tuj-Johra, Shovon Al-Fuad, et al. Assessment of Nutritional Status and Its Determinants Among Pre-School Children Within Dalit Communities of Jessore City in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study. Int J Nutr Food Sci. 2018;7(2):65-70. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14,
      author = {Akimul Islam and Md Tarek Hasan and Nazia Nawshad Lina and Fatema-Tuj-Johra and Shovon Al-Fuad and Rajib Kanti Roy},
      title = {Assessment of Nutritional Status and Its Determinants Among Pre-School Children Within Dalit Communities of Jessore City in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study},
      journal = {International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {65-70},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnfs.20180702.14},
      abstract = {Background: The socio-religiously considered low class Dalit communities are living below extreme poverty line in Bangladesh. They face discrimination at all levels of social interactions. Lack of access to education, extreme poverty issues, health and housing problems, and unequal access to work and employment may put this underprivileged community at the risk of malnutrition. Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the nutritional status and associated factors among preschool children within various Dalit communities in Jessore city, Bangladesh. Study Design: A cross sectional study was undertaken among 165 pre-school children (24-60 months) randomly selected from different Dalit families living in Jessore city, Bangladesh. Anthropometric methods and a structured questionnaire were used to collect the required data. WHO based anthropometric Z scores and MUAC (Mid Upper Arm Circumference) indicators were used to measure nutritional status of the children. Data analysis at 5% level of significance was performed by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)-22 software. Results: About 58% and 45% of the studied preschool children were stunted and underweight respectively while 22.5% children were wasted. Nearly 8.5% children were obese or at risk of being obese. Most of the parents were illiterate or just completed only primary education. Mother and father education status was not statistically significant with stunting, wasting and underweight status of pre-school children. Moderate and severe stunting were relatively higher among younger children (pConclusions: About half of preschool children among Dalit communities in Jessore city live with chronic malnutrition like stunting and underweight. Maternal health status as well as other socio-demographic factors can affect the nutritional status of children.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Assessment of Nutritional Status and Its Determinants Among Pre-School Children Within Dalit Communities of Jessore City in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study
    AU  - Akimul Islam
    AU  - Md Tarek Hasan
    AU  - Nazia Nawshad Lina
    AU  - Fatema-Tuj-Johra
    AU  - Shovon Al-Fuad
    AU  - Rajib Kanti Roy
    Y1  - 2018/03/24
    PY  - 2018
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14
    T2  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    SP  - 65
    EP  - 70
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2327-2716
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20180702.14
    AB  - Background: The socio-religiously considered low class Dalit communities are living below extreme poverty line in Bangladesh. They face discrimination at all levels of social interactions. Lack of access to education, extreme poverty issues, health and housing problems, and unequal access to work and employment may put this underprivileged community at the risk of malnutrition. Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the nutritional status and associated factors among preschool children within various Dalit communities in Jessore city, Bangladesh. Study Design: A cross sectional study was undertaken among 165 pre-school children (24-60 months) randomly selected from different Dalit families living in Jessore city, Bangladesh. Anthropometric methods and a structured questionnaire were used to collect the required data. WHO based anthropometric Z scores and MUAC (Mid Upper Arm Circumference) indicators were used to measure nutritional status of the children. Data analysis at 5% level of significance was performed by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)-22 software. Results: About 58% and 45% of the studied preschool children were stunted and underweight respectively while 22.5% children were wasted. Nearly 8.5% children were obese or at risk of being obese. Most of the parents were illiterate or just completed only primary education. Mother and father education status was not statistically significant with stunting, wasting and underweight status of pre-school children. Moderate and severe stunting were relatively higher among younger children (pConclusions: About half of preschool children among Dalit communities in Jessore city live with chronic malnutrition like stunting and underweight. Maternal health status as well as other socio-demographic factors can affect the nutritional status of children.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

  • Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

  • Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

  • Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

  • Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

  • Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

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