Factors Associated with Malnutrition among under-Five Children

Background: India has about 440 million children. About 27 million children are born every year in India but 2 million of them do not attend the age of 5. The world bank estimates that India is one of the highest ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition.

Objective: The objective of the study was to identify the factors associated with malnutrition among under-five children.

Design: Descriptive cross sectional study. 100 under-five children were selected for the study by complete enumeration. The data was collected by structured interview schedule.

Results: 38% of underfive children were normal, 24% had grade I/Mild Malnutrition,25% had grade II/ Moderate Malnutrition and 13% had grade III/Severe Malnutrition. Overall 62% under-five children were malnourished. 28% had mild wasting, 24% had moderate wasting and 41% had severe wasting, 26% had mild stunting, 11% had moderate stunting, 9%were had severe stunting. A Significant association was found between nutritional status of the child and factors : weight of mother ,Birth weight of child, Socio economic status of the family, immunization status of child, timing of weaning, abnormality's at birth and type of diet. A significant association was found between the nutritional status of children and socio-demographic variable: gender of the child, education of mother, family monthly income, and number of children in the family.

Conclusions: This study indicated weight of mother, time of weaning, Birth weight of child, socio economic status, immunization status of the child were associated with malnutrition among under-five children.