THE ASSOCIATION OF PREDISPOSING AND ENABLING FACTORS ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN CHILDREN

Abstract

BANGLADESH is still the world most densely populated country. Moreover child malnutrition coexist in poor communities even the households due to poverty, illiteracy, insufficient resources and knowledge leading to a high risk of disease, morbidity and mortality. Various studies have highlighted the associated factors. The objective of the study was to explore the association of predisposing and enabling factors on nutritional status in secondary school children. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 120 students aged 14-17 years old of class Standard-9 in four secondary schools which were randomly selected from a list of schools provided by the local government office of TANGAIL city from October to November 2013. Purposive sampling technique was applied to collect the sample and Data collection was done through a structured questionnaire by face to face interview. We assessed BMI following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention age and sex specific growth chart. In this study 52.5% of respondents had healthy weight. While 45.5% were underweight and 2.5% were overweight. Female children (25%) were more malnourished than male children (17%). Most underweight children had poor knowledge about health and nutrition compared to their healthy counter parts that had fair knowledge. The association between nutritional status and some independent variables was found at 5% level of significance. These independent variables were taking snacks (P=0.001), knowledge level (P=0.012), total family income (P=0.037), mother education (P=0.006), taking care of respondents (P=0.008), father occupation (P=0.027), money for snacking (P=0.010) and accommodation type (P=0.008). Low income, low literacy rate, large families, food insecurity, food safety, women’s education appears to be the important underlying factors responsible for poor health status of children from low socioeconomic class. Based on results, it’s suggested that to avoid students snacking in the school time, it’s better to let them bring a meal from home. Supplementary support from school is needed. Health and nutrition education should be provided both children and mother to improve nutritional status of the children.