Who is undernourished and who is overweight in Nigeria?

Abstract

The rising prevalence of overweight and obesity in low and middle income countries has been documented, but the development of appropriate policy responses requires an understanding of the geographic and social distribution of these conditions in relation to that of undernutrition. This need is especially great in countries with marked social, cultural and economic diversity. This study examined the distribution of undernutrition and overweight in women and children in Nigeria. The anthropometric status of 27,304 women 15–49 years and 18,893 children 0–59 months in the 2008 Nigerian Demographic Health Survey was examined using complex survey design in Stata 12.1. In general, undernutrition in women and children was higher in the three northern regions, overweight in women was higher in the three southern regions and child overweight was similar across all six regions. Also, undernutrition in women and children was inversely associated with wealth quintile in all six regions, overweight in women was positively associated with wealth quintile in all six regions, and child overweight was not associated with wealth quintile in any of the regions. Relative to other Sub‐Saharan African countries, Nigerian subpopulations, including the poorest children, had a higher prevalence of both undernutrition and overweight.Research support: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell UniversityGrant Funding Source: None