Malnutrition Status Of Children Research Articles

PREVALENCE AND DETERMINANTS OF MALNUTRITION AMONG UNDER- FIVE CHILDREN OF HOUSEHOLD IN SLUM AREAS OF DISTRICT FAISALABAD

Malnutrition refers to a pathological condition characterized by a lack of nutrients necessary for healthy body function. Malnutrition is one of the most common causes of death and disease among children under the age of five. About 96% percent of children in Pakistan do not receive adequate nutrition during childhood, such as soft food, milk, fruit, and vegetables. Food insecurity is a serious problem in Pakistan as a significant portion of the rural population is food insecure. A staggering 36.9% of households in the country are 'food insecure' and 18.3% are 'severely' food insecure. Pakistan is self-sufficient in basic food items, but only 63.1% of households have food security. Food insecurity is common, leaving women and children at greater risk of malnutrition. Drought-affected communities have exceptionally high rates of malnutrition. According to statistics in Pakistan, about 40, 29%, and 18% of children under the age of five are a stunt, underweight, and wasted, respectively. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the prevalence and determinants of malnutrition status in children under 5 years of age in the slums of Faisalabad District, Punjab, Pakistan. The data is based on household demographic and socioeconomic factors, including anthropometric information on children under the age of five living in a slum in Faisalabad. Anthropometric data were obtained from 150 randomly selected children from three slum areas of Faisalabad. Socioeconomic and behavioural data were collected from each mother. Three indicators were used to measure the nutritional status of children: (i) stunting, height–for– age, (ii) wasting weight–for–height, and (iii) under-weight¸ weight–for–age. These values ​​were transformed into z-scores to classify the child's nutritional status. Descriptive and logistic regression techniques were used to identify factors associated with children's nutritional status. According to this study, the prevalence of stunting, being underweight, and wasting among children under five years of age in Faisalabad District, Pakistan were 28%, 22.6%, and 18% respectively. Testing with logistic regression techniques revealed that demographic, socio-economic, and behavioural factors were significant predictors of all three indicators of child nutritional status. These main factors were household calorie intake and maternal education, father education, access to clean water, and maternal access to health facilities.

Nutrition-Focused Physical Exam in assessing nutritional status of children with neurological impairment

BackgroundAccurate and reliable anthropometric measurements in children with neurological impairments who are not able or not suitable for conventional anthropometric measuring techniques can be challenging and potentially leading to misinterpretation of their nutritional status. Nutrition-Focused Physical Exam (NFPE) is proven useful in providing supportive evidence to malnutrition. This study investigated the use of NFPE to identify malnutrition among children with Down syndrome (DS) and cerebral palsy (CP), in comparison to AND/ASPEN Pediatric Malnutrition Identification Criteria as the reference method. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted to recruit 31 children with DS and 20 children with CP aged between 4 and 15 years old. Nutrition-focused physical findings (fat loss, muscle wasting, abnormality observations on hair, eyes, oral cavity, skin, and nails), weight, height, mid upper arm circumference, and dietary intake were collected. The malnutrition status of children was determined using NFPE and AND/ASPEN criteria, respectively. Weighted Kappa agreement and diagnostic values were analyzed between these two criteria. Chi-square test examined the association between oral cavity abnormalities and the nutritional status identified by the AND/ASPEN criteria and NFPE. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. ResultsFindings reported a significant and fair agreement between the two criterions for children with DS (k = 0.367, p = 0.018). NFPE offers a sensitivity of 81.3 % and a specificity of 60.0 % for children with DS when compared with the AND/ASPEN criteria as the reference method. Similarly, for children with CP, NFPE recorded a significant and moderate agreement (k = 0.503, p < 0.001) with AND/ASPEN criteria where NFPE offers a sensitivity of 90.9 % and a specificity of 22.2 %. Children with oral cavity abnormality were significantly associated with malnutrition defined by NFPE. ConclusionsNFPE serves as a supplementary assessment method to identify malnutrition in children with DS with altered body composition and CP with neuromuscular impairment.

FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI PRAKTIK IBU DALAM PEMBERIAN MAKANAN BAGI BALITA USIA 12-60 BULAN BERSTATUS GIZI KURANG DI WILAYAH PUSKESMAS LENGKONG KABUPATEN NGANJUK

Nutritional status in children under five is closely related to various factors, including maternal age, maternal education, family income, maternal nutritional knowledge, maternal attitudes and maternal practices in providing food. This study aims to determine the factors that influence mothers' practices in providing food to toddlers aged 12-60 months with malnutrition status in the Lengkong Community Health Center area. Method The type of research is quantitative research, with a cross sectional study approach. The research sample was mothers who had toddlers aged 12-60 months with malnutrition, a total of 30 children taken using purposive sampling. Nutritional status data based on anthropometric measurements of BW/U is compared with the WHO_NCHS Z-score value. Data analysis was carried out using univariate analysis and bivariate analysis. The results of bivariate analysis showed mother's age (p= 0.713), mother's last education (p=0.015), family income (p=0.256). maternal nutritional knowledge (p-0333), and maternal attitude (p=0.006). Meanwhile, from the multivariate analysis, it was found that maternal education (p=0.216), maternal family income (p=0.462) and maternal attitude (p=0.998). Based on the results of the multivariate analysis, the mother's attitude factor is the factor that has the most influence on the malnutrition status of children under five because the value obtained is &lt;0.998. The discussion of factors that influence mothers' practices in providing food for toddlers with low nutritional status is due to the characteristics of the mother, education and family income), knowledge and attitudes. In conclusion, it can be concluded that there are three factors that influence mothers' practices in providing food for toddlers aged 12-60 months with malnutrition status, namely maternal education, family income and maternal attitudes.

Performance test of Naive Bayes and SVM methods on classification of malnutrition status in children

Performance test of Naive Bayes and SVM methods on classification of malnutrition status in children

Decision-making Support System for Predicting and Eliminating Malnutrition and Anemia

Aims: This study investigates predicting and eliminating malnutrition and anemia using ML Algorithms and comparing all the methods with various malnutrition-based parameters. Background: The health of the nation is more important than the wealth of the nation. Malnutrition and anemia are serious health issues but the least importance is given to eradicate them. Objective: Proper nutrition is an essential component for the survival, growth, and development of infants, children, and women who in turn give birth to infants. Methods: In the proposed system, machine learning approaches are utilized to predict the malnutrition status of children under five years of age and anemia in men and women using old datasets and further providing a suitable diet recommendation to overcome the disease. Classification techniques are being used for malnutrition as well as anemia prediction. Results: Algorithms such as Naïve Bayes classifier (NBC), Decision Tree (DT) algorithm, Random Forest (RF) algorithm, and K-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) algorithm are utilized for prediction. The results obtained by these algorithms are 94.47%, 85%, 95.49%, and 63.15%. When compared, Naïve Bayes and random forest algorithm provided efficient results for malnutrition and anemia, respectively. Conclusion: By testing and validating, preventive actions can be taken with the help of medical experts and dieticians to reduce malnutrition and anemia conditions among children and elders, respectively.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PLAN IN OVERCOMING MALNUTRITION

Malnutrition status in children is an important thing that must be known by every parent and malnutrition can affect children's brain development. Malnutrition status includes chronic nutritional problems caused by many factors such as socioeconomic conditions, maternal nutrition during pregnancy, illness in infants, and lack of nutritional intake in infants. To overcome this, the active role of the community is needed through a community empowerment plan. This study aims to investigate community empowerment plans in tackling malnutrition. This research will use qualitative methods with descriptive analysis. This research will also examine documents related to community empowerment programs in tackling malnutrition. The results of this study are expected to provide recommendations for related parties in the development of community empowerment programs that are more effective in tackling malnutrition.

Assessment of Child Malnutrition Status: A Study of Tribal Population in Nashik District (Maharashtra)

Assessment of Child Malnutrition Status: A Study of Tribal Population in Nashik District (Maharashtra)

Nutritional knowledge and practices of mothers/caregivers and its impact on the nutritional status of children 6–59 months in Sefwi Wiawso Municipality, Western-North Region, Ghana

BackgroundGood maternal/caregiver nutrition knowledge protects the child from events that lead to low weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) and low height-for-age z-score (HAZ). Indicators of good child nutritional status have traditionally been low in cocoa-growing areas. This paper aimed to explore the relationship between maternal nutrition knowledge and practices and its effect on the nutritional status of children 6–59 months in the Sefwi Wiawso municipality; a predominant cocoa-growing area in Ghana. MethodologyA cross-sectional study design was used to assess nutrition knowledge, nutritional practices of mothers and dietary adequacy and nutritional status of their children using 24-hour dietary recall and anthropometric measures. ResultsA total of 226 caregiver-child pairs were recruited for the study. The level of nutritional knowledge was average (61.5%) among caregivers/mothers. Most caregivers (92.3%) initiated breastfeeding within 1 hour of giving birth. A total of 66% of mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding. Complementary feeding was initiated at 6 months in 83.6% of the cases. The prevalence of underweight, wasting, and stunting were 8.29%, 10.23%, and 16.74% respectively. There was no significant association between mother/caregiver's nutrition knowledge and child malnutrition status although the risk of wasting reduced with increasing nutritional knowledge of caregivers (p = 0.118). ConclusionThere was no association between maternal nutrition knowledge and the nutritional status of children even though wasting showed a pattern of decrease with increasing nutritional knowledge. The prevalence of malnutrition in children in the study was comparatively lower than the national average. Underweight was statistically significantly higher in children whose mothers/caregivers were farmers hence appropriate nutrition education with a focus on infant and young child feeding practices should be promoted during antennal care and child welfare clinic services within these communities. Family planning services targeted particularly at teenage girls should be instituted to prevent teenage pregnancies as malnutrition is more likely to occur in children born to teenage mothers.

Relationship of Mother’s Characteristics and Nutritional Status in Children in Indonesia

Nutrition plays an important role in the human life cycle from in the womb to old age. The 2009 health law states that the main priority of efforts to improve nutrition in Indonesia is vulnerable groups, one of which is infants and toddlers. The results of the study used the Evidence Gap theory with the aim of analyzing the relationship between maternal characteristics and malnutrition status in children under five in Indonesia based on published studies from 2015-2020. The research method is meta-analysis with a cross sectional design. a total of six research articles (full text) published online in 2015-2020, using the meta-analysis calculator program Review Manager 5.4. The main results of the study were the age of mothers 20-35 years during pregnancy (85.4%), low education level of junior high school, not working parity of mothers with children &gt; 1 (65.7%), and most of the number of children with no more than two children. (68.1%), most of the mother's birth spacing does not exist, and mother's knowledge is good. The conclusion from the six articles was that three articles were analyzed in the meta-analysis, namely maternal education p = 0.002 OR = 3.2, mother's occupation p = 0.002 OR = 2.70, and mother's knowledge p = 0.0001 OR = 4.98. That data mean that there was a relationship between significantly with the nutritional status of under-fives in Indonesia. Variables of mother's age, mother's parity, number of mother's children, and mother's birth spacing cannot be analyzed in the meta-analysis.Keywords: Characteristics of mothers, nutritional status, children under five

Research on Nutrition, Dental Caries Status Using Novel Methods, and Related Factors to Preschool Children in Rural Areas of Vietnam.

The study aims to examine correlations between nutrition status with different factors and dental caries of preschool children in rural areas of Vietnam. A big data based on a total of 690 children (356 boys and 334 girls), aged 2–5 years, living in Van Xuan commune, were thoroughly analyzed. Oral examinations were performed by dentists with the assistance of nursery teachers and the research team. Caries was diagnosed using criteria established by the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS). The examined children and their parents responded to questions pertaining to dental hygiene practices. The nutrition status of preschool children was determined by the World Health Organization (WHO) standards in 2006. There are factors which have effects on the malnutrition status of children in the research. The prevalence of dental caries also contributed importantly to assess children's development. In this study, the stunting groups have a higher ratio of caries compared to the others. Children's morphology and nutritional status are associated with dental caries among the preschool children in Van Xuan commune, Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province.

THE EVALUATION OF ANTI-EPILEPTIC DRUGS DOSAGE IN MALNOURISHED CHILDREN: CASES IN INDONESIAN COMMUNITY OF EPILEPSY

Anti-epileptic drug (AED) has a narrow therapeutic index of drugs that a slight increase in dosage showed toxic effects. The therapeutic response is difficult to predict in malnutrition status because the patient with nutritional deficiency have more complicated problems likes hypoalbuminemia, macronutrient and micronutrients deficiency that affected the levels of AEDs. The nutritional deficiency could be a direct and indirect cause of ineffective AEDs therapy and also recurrent epilepsy. This study aims to describe the use of antiepileptic drugs in Indonesian children with poor nutritional status. The research design was observational studies with cross sectional random sampling to evaluate the AED doses of malnutrition status in children. All information was collected by spreading electronic forms and interviewing the parents by phone. The data were analyzed descriptively. Total of 8 malnourished children mostly included in the range of ages from &gt;2 to 12 years (n=5; 62.50%) with means 3,9±2,7 years. The study showed valproic acid was bigger used in monotherapy (n=5; 62,50%) than polytherapy with carbamazepine or sodium phenytoin and phenobarbital. The means estimation of valproic acid monotherapy concentration in females’ group (n=2; 33,33%) showed sub-therapeutics level were Cssmin 26,09±0,57 mg/L and Cssmax 64,17±1,39 mg/L, also the means in males’ group (n=2; 33,33%) of valproic acid monotherapy were Cssmin 22.07±2,71 mg/L and Cssmax 54.27±6.66 mg/L. All of them included in good clinical outcome of free seizure &gt; 6 months.

A study on factors leading to poor mental health of children in Punjab, Pakistan

In this article, the several factors have been investigated relating to the poor mental health of the children in Punjab, Pakistan. Using the data of the survey conducted by the Punjab Bureau of Statistics, different determinants of child malnutrition and poverty were diagnosed based upon sufficient information of the children under 5 year of age. Logistic regression analysis methodology has been applied for screening the most influential factors of the study. It has been observed that the rise in poverty has prejudiced the nutritional position of the children, the mother's education, and the fitness of the youth. It has also been observed that male children are more at risk to poor mental health than female children. A number of policy issues came to light from the findings of the study. The wealth index of all three anthropometric measures, the child malnutrition status of uneducated mothers, and the child diarrhea menace are the significant areas.

Explainable machine learning model for predicting the occurrence of postoperative malnutrition in children with congenital heart disease

Malnutrition is persistent in 50%-75% of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) after surgery, and early prediction is crucial for nutritional intervention. The aim of this study was to develop and validate machine learning (ML) models to predict the malnutrition status of children with CHD. We used explainable ML methods to provide insight into the model's predictions and outcomes. This prospective cohort study included consecutive children with CHD admitted to the hospital from December 2017 to May 2020. The cohort data were divided into the training and test data sets based on the follow-up time. The outcome of the study was CHD child malnutrition 1 year after surgery, the primary outcome was an underweight status, and the secondary outcomes were stunted and wasting status. We used five ML algorithms with multiple features to construct prediction models, and the performance of these ML models was measured by an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis. We also used the permutation importance and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) to determine the importance of the selected features and interpret the ML models. We enrolled 536 children with CHD who underwent complete repair. The proportions of children with an underweight, stunted, or wasting status 1 year after surgery were 18.1% (97/536), 12.1% (65/536), and 17.5% (94/536), respectively. All patients contributed to the generation of 115 useable features, which allowed us to build models to predict malnutrition. Five prediction algorithms were used, and the XGBoost model achieved the greatest AUC in all outcomes. The results obtained from the permutation importance and SHAP analyses showed that the 1-month postoperative WAZ-score, discharge WAZ score and preoperative WAZ score were the top 3 important features in predicting an underweight status in the XGBoost algorithm. Regarding the stunted status, the top 3 important features were the 1-month postoperative HAZ score, discharge HAZ score, and aortic clamping time. Regarding the wasting status, the top 3 important features were the hospital length of stay, formula intake, and discharge WHZ-score. We also used a narrative case report as an example to describe the clinical manifestations and predicted the primary outcomes of two children. We developed an ML model (XGBoost) that provides accurate early predictions of malnutrition 1-year postoperatively in children with CHD. Because the ML model is explainable, it may better enable clinicians to better understand the reasoning underlying the outcome. Our study could aid in determining individual treatment and nutritional follow-up strategies for children with CHD.

Gender Differences in Child Malnutrition in Ethiopia: Evidence from Three Decomposition Techniques

Ethiopia has one of the highest under-five child mortality rate in the world, which is higher for boys than for girls. Malnutrition is a major contributing factor to child mortality and that is why we assess the differences in child malnutrition status of boys and girls. Specifically, we study the extent to which the gender differences in malnutrition are associated with observable factors and socio-economic characteristics and to what extent these differences are unexplained and attributable to factors such as latent parental preferences, societal biases, and other unobservable factors. We use data from the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey and evaluate three anthropometric status measures – wasting, stunting, and being underweight. We utilize a reduced-form demand for nutrition framework and several decomposition techniques: Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition for non-linear models, Machado-Mata quantile decomposition, and the recentered influence function. The results indicate that measurable socioeconomic and locational characteristics have significant and plausible associations with malnutrition by gender. We also find that 3% to 4% of the difference in the anthropometric status may be attributable to unobservable factors that may include implicit parental preferences. This approach is useful in evaluating gender differences in other human capital development outcomes such as health and education, as well as those in malnutrition.

Modeling Key Drivers of Under-Five Child Malnutrition in Marsabit County, Kenya: Application of the Logit Model

Malnutrition remains one of the major problems in developing countries affecting both adults and children under 5 years. The use of binary logistic regression model was employed, and parameters of interest estimated. Results showed that 29.3 percent of the children were acutely malnourished. There was an insignificant difference between household food security and child malnutrition status Factors such as the age of caregivers, household size, the gender of the child, and the level of education of caregivers, if the child was weighed at birth, source of income, the occupation status, and the distance to the water source remained insignificant at a multivariate level. However, factors such as full-term maternal pregnancy, the child being ill for the past two weeks, and the study site were strong significant factors affecting the status of childhood malnutrition. Moreover, mothers with full-term pregnancy up to the birth were 53 percent less likely to have malnourished infants when compared to their counterparts whose pregnancy was not term. Mothers/caregivers who traveled more than half a kilometer were twice more likely to have their children malnourished than those who had traveled less than half a kilometer. It recommended that the policymakers and the entire County government of Marsabit should build more social amenities that provide pregnant women with full-term maternal checkups for both antenatal and postnatal care. County government of Marsabit should lobby and mobilize resources for food aid or cash transfers to households.

Determination of malnutrition status of children with diabetes during diagnosis

The aim of this study was to determine the malnutrition status at the time of diagnosis in children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). 72 children who applied to the Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital Child Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic between February 2019 and June 2019 and were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes were included in this study. Anthropometric measurements used in the diagnosis of malnutrition including head and mid-upper arm circumference and skin fold thickness as well as body weight and height of children were evaluated. In addition, the STRONGkids screening scale was also used for screening malnutrition and the results were compared with anthropometric measurements regarding consistency. Only 4 patients out of 72 were under age 5; thus, we did not include head circumferences in the comparative analysis. There was no significant difference in terms of frequency and severity of malnutrition according to gender or age groups (p > 0.05). The negative correlation between STRONGkids risk levels and anthropometric measurements was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Weight loss, one of the most common symptoms in the pre-diagnosis process, should be considered among children with diabetes. • Type I diabetes mellitus is a widespread pediatric endocrine disorder. • Weight loss is expected in most patients with newly diagnosed type I diabetes mellitus but somehow often not recognized. • Determining the frequency and importance of malnutrition in children with diabetes will enable early intervention.

Association between Pre-Albumin and Malnutrition in Children with Advanced Heart Failure

<h3>Purpose</h3> Malnutrition is an important complication of heart failure (HF) and associated with significant mortality. The serum pre-albumin level is often performed to evaluate patient nutritional status in HF, however its association with clinical malnutrition severity has not been determined. We sought to evaluate the association between pre-albumin and malnutrition severity using contemporary definitions of malnutrition. <h3>Methods</h3> All children listed for heart transplant (HT) between 2014 and 2017 were identified using a hospital database at a single center. Clinical malnutrition severity was determined by a certified pediatric dietitian using the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) guidelines. The pre-albumin level drawn around the time of the nutritional assessment was recorded. ANOVA for K groups with the Bonferroni correction was used to compare groups. <h3>Results</h3> Among 73 children who met the inclusion criteria, the median age at nutrition evaluation was 7.8 (Q1-Q3 1.3-12.6) years, the median weight-for-age Z-score was -1.5 (-2.3, 0.1), 36% were female, and 68% had congenital heart disease. Overall, malnutrition status by ASPEN guidelines was mild (25%), moderate (30%), severe (21%), or normal or obese (24%). Among the 73 subjects, the mean pre-albumin level was 20 (SD 10) mg/dl including 50% classified as normal. By ANOVA, there was no association between pre-albumin and clinical nutrition severity in children with HF (<b>Figure).</b> Variation within individual patients was high. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Pre-albumin does not appear to be a meaningful marker of malnutrition status in children with advanced heart failure. Pre-albumin levels vary markedly across malnutrition groups and within individual patients at a constant nutrition status, variability which may reflect its tendency to rise and fall as an acute phase reactant. Alternative strategies for estimating nutritional status are warranted.

BENEFICIARIES' PERSPECTIVE IN REDUCING CHILD DEATHS DUE TO MALNUTRITION IN TRIBAL DISTRICT OF MAHARASHTRA: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

This study was an attempt to understand the perceptions of the beneciaries towards various services provided by Government for reducing the problem of child deaths due to malnutrition and the challenges faced. Three talukas from Palghar were chosen based on the child malnutrition status in those talukas. A descriptive cross sectional, community-based study was conducted. Data was collected through focus group discussions conducted in representative and homogeneous samples of the beneciaries, viz., adolescent girls, pregnant/lactating mothers, mothers with toddler/malnourished child, mother-in-law and husbands. It was found that the main challenges posed to the beneciaries were category specic. The major challenges were poverty, lower education levels, socio-cultural beliefs, practices and problems in having a stable source of income for livelihood which leads to constant migration. The power dynamics regarding decision making in every household rests with either the males or the elderly of the family thus leaving very little scope for women of the family to make any choices about their own health or nutrition. Hence, these decision-making power dynamics are yet another major reason for driving malnutrition across the life course.

Faktor Risiko Status Gizi Kurang Pada Balita Di UPT Puskesmas Desa Lalang

Based on Nutritional Status Monitoring (PSG) from the Ministry of The health of the Republic of Indonesia, malnutrition status in children under five according to Body Weight (BB) / Age (U) is 18.4%. For the city of Medan in 2017 the nutritional status of under-fives was 6.0%. This study aims to analyze the risk factors for malnutrition in children under five in the Village Lalang Village Health Unit in 2018. The type of study used case-control. The sample of this study was 30 mothers who had children under five who experienced malnutrition (case) and 30 mothers who had children under five did not experience poor nutrition (control) in Health Centre Unit Office Desa Lalang, Medan. Data were analyzed by conducting Chi-square analysis and logistic regression . The results of the study showed that from 5 research variables only 3 variables affected underweight status in toddlers at the Lalang Village Health Centre Medan in 2018, namely knowledge about nutrition (sig 0.001 OR 15,776), family income (sig 0.004 OR 12,382), and history of infection (sig 0.014 OR 7,767). It is recommended for mothers of children under five to provide more nutritious food and enough energy for their children, in the posyandu every month to monitor the growth and development of children under five and be more active in seeking information about toddlers nutrition through counselling by health workers.

Determinants of Child Malnutrition in Uttar Pradesh

This paper investigates the current state of malnutrition and the possible determinants of child nutrition status at district level children aged less than five years in Uttar Pradesh. Comprehensive nine dimensions including 23 indicators related to various socio-economic characteristics have been examined. The data were accessed from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) for the year 2015-2016, which contained information of children belonging to 76,233 households of the state. Three indicators namely, stunted, wasted and underweight have been considered as comprehensive child malnutrition status. Multiple regression analysis has been used to identify various factors associated with child malnutrition. The study indicates that the prevalence of child malnutrition varied over the districts. Those with very high prevalence of malnutrition were Hamirpur, Sonbhadra, Sitapur, Bahraich and Pilibhit. In contrast, in Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Firozabad and Saharanpur the prevalence of malnutrition was lower. Explanatory variables like female literacy rate, breastfeeding, toilet facility, anaemia among pregnant women, gross value from agriculture/gross cropped area and total fertility rate account for change and show a significant effect on both child malnutrition and infant mortality rate. Nutritional education of females, better sanitation facilities in backward areas, better nutrition to females and high food productivity might help in solving the nutrition status of children in Uttar Pradesh.