Assessment of Nutritional Status of Under Five Years Children in Relation to Their Birth Space in Shirqat City

Background: Nutritional status of children who are less than 5 years old is of significant regard as the beginning years of life are important for best development. Childhood malnutrition occurs due to several reasons, but spacing of birth is frequently unnoted even if it is accompanied with stunting which reflect chronic malnutrition. Aims: To assess the nutritional status of children less than 5 years old, and its relationship with birth interval, and associated factors.Materials and Methods: It was a cross sectional study was carried on children of 0-5 years age groups of both sexes. Data was collected using predesigned and pretested questionnaire, face to face interview with the mothers and anthropometric measurements of children were performed. Results: Most of undernourished children were with birth space less than 24 months. The frequency of stunting and wasting was the highest among children with birth interval less than 24 months, it was (14.5%) and (6.8%) respectively as compared to those with birth interval 24-59 months were frequency of stunting and wasting was found to be the lowest, it was (11.2%) and (2.2%) respectively. Conclusion: This paper draws attention to significant linkages between birth spacing and child nutritional status. Most of undernourished children were with birth space less than 24 months.