Regional Differences of Child Under-Nutrition in Bangladesh

Abstract

Despite recent progress shown by some of the indicators of Millennium DevelopmentGoals in Bangladesh, the nutritional status among all children of the country is notso satisfactory. Growing evidence suggest that there exist regional differences in childunder-nutrition in Bangladesh. The present article is an attempt to identify the regionaldifferences of child under-nutrition across six divisions of Bangladesh and to understandsome of the determinants of under-nutrition using DHS-2007 Bangladesh dat. This datafocus on under-nutrition and some of the determinants related to household, child andmother. A multivariate model was employed to study the regional differences of undernutritionstatus among children. Across the divisions, a variation of under-nutrition isobserved among the children. The prevalence of under-nutrition is statistically significantin poor households. Economics status, mothers’ education, children’s age, number of familymembers and duration of breastfeeding are important determinants of under-nutritionacross divisions. Child under-nutrition in Bangladesh is still a concern for the householdwith poor economic status. The article calls for improvement of the economic status of thehouseholds across divisions keeping in view the nature of inequality in childhood undernutritionin the country and its differential characteristics across the divisions.