Malnutrition status of children under 5 years in Bangladesh: A sociodemographic assessment

Abstract

This study investigated the factors associated with the prevalence of malnutrition among children under 5 years in Bangladesh. A child’s nutritional status was evaluated using stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight. The association between sociodemographic factors and nutritional status was analyzed through a sampling weight adjusted logistic regression model. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2019, a national survey conducted in Bangladesh funded by UNICEF, was used in this study. From 10,875 samples, 24.67% of children are stunted, 9.75% of children were wasted, 20.57% of children were underweight, and 6.80% of children were overweight. The prevalence of stunting and underweight was lower at ages <6 months and higher at ages 36–47 months and 24–35 months, respectively. The prevalence of wasting was higher at ages 12–23 months and lower at ages 36–47 months. Conversely, the prevalence of overweight was higher at ages <6 months. Stunted and underweight children were more likely to reside in Sylhet as compared to other divisions. The odds of being stunted, wasting, and underweight were lower with female children, higher educated mothers, wealthier families, children whose mother had received prenatal care, and the bigger size of the child during birth. Children whose mothers had delivered at the health facility were less likely to be underweight. Children living in an urban area, and belonging to the richest household tended to be more overweight. Implementation of proper nutritional intervention strategies and improvement in house-hold financial conditions, literacy of parents, give prenatal care, delivered at health facilities could help in improving the nutritional status in Bangladesh. The most vulnerable group, the poorest socio-demographic group, or children in the urban area, the Sylhet division, small size children at birth, mothers with no education require urgent attention from the policymakers.