IMPACT OF SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Abstract
Background: Child malnutrition is a major public health and development concern in most of the poorcommunities leading to high morbidity and mortality. Various studies have highlighted the factorsinvolved. The present study focuses on socioeconomic inequality resulting in malnutrition. Objectivesof the Study were to find the Impact of socio-economic factors on nutritional status in primary schoolchildren. Methods: It was a cross sectional survey conducted at Lahore from February to August 2005among primary schools from public and private sectors to assess the nutritional status of primary schoolgoing children age 5–11 years belonging to different socio economic classes of the society. Systematicrandom sampling technique was applied to collect the sample. Body Mass Index in relation toNHANES reference population was used for assessing nutritional status. Results: The nutritional statusof children from lower socio economic class was poor as compared to their counter parts in upper socioeconomic class. Children with BMI <5thpercentile were 41% in lower class while in upper class it was19.28%. Prevalence of malnutrition was 42.3% among children of illiterate mothers as compare to 20%in those of literate mothers. Conclusion: Poverty, low literacy rate, large families, food insecurity, foodsafety, women’s education appears to be the important underlying factors responsible for poor healthstatus of children from low socioeconomic class. It requires economic, political and social changes aswell as changes for personal advancement mainly through educational opportunities to improve thenutritional status of the children.Keywords: Body Mass Index, BMI, Malnutrition, Nutrition, Children, Primary SchoolReferences
UNICEF. Malnutrition: causes, consequences and solution. The
state of the world’s children 1998. Available at:
http://www.unicef.org/sowc98/
Kikafunda JK, Walker AF, Collett D, Tumwine JK. Risk Factors
for Early Childhood Malnutrition in Uganda. Pediatrics
;102(4):e45.
Vella V, Tomkins A, Borghesi A, Migliori GB, Adriko BC,
Crevatin E. Determinants of child nutrition in north-west Uganda
Bul World Health Organ 1992;70:637–47.
Delpeuch F, Traissac P, Martin-Pre Y, Massamba JP, Maire B.
Economic crisis and malnutrition: socioeconomic determinants
of anthropometric status of preschool children and their mothers
in an African urban area. Public Health Nutr 2000;3:39–47.
Carlson SJ, Andrews MS, Bickel GW. Measuring food insecurity
and hunger in the United States: development of a national
benchmark measure and prevalence estimates. J Nutr
;129(2S Suppl):510S–516S.
Rose D. Economic determinants and dietary consequences of
food insecurity in the United States. J Nutr 1999;129(2S
Suppl):517S–20S
Pakistan economic survey 2003–04.
UNICEF. Strategy for improvement of nutrition of children and
women in developing countries. New York: UNICEF; 1990.
Smith LC, Haddad L. Explaining child malnutrition in
developing countries: a cross country analysis. International Food
Policy Research Institute; 2000.
Govt. of India (2002) .Census of India 2001. Provisional
population totals, paper 1of 2001.
Suryanarayana MH. Morbidity Profiles of Kerala and All-India:
An Economic Perspective. Mumbai: Indira Gandhi Institute of
De velopment Research; 2008.
Rahman M, Mostofa G, Nasrin SO. Nutritional status among
children aged 24–59 months in rural Bangladesh: An assessment
measured by BMI index. Internet J Biol Anthropol 2009;3(1).
Ali SS, Karim N, Haider SS. Association of literacy of fathers
with malnutrition among children under three years of age in
J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2010;22(4)
http://www.ayubmed.edu.pk/JAMC/PAST/22-4/Nabeela.pdf
rural area of district Malir, Karachi. Med Channel
;11(1):26–9.
Van de Poel E, Hosseinpoor AR, Jehu-Appiah C, Vega J,
Speybroeck N. Malnutrition and the disproportional burden on
the poor: the case of Ghana. Int J Equity Health 2007;6:21
doi:10.1186/1475-9276-6-21
Martorell R, Rivera J, Kaplowitz H, Pollitt E. Long-term
consequences of growth retardation during early childhood. In
Human growth: basic and clinical aspects. Edited by: Hernandez
M, Argente J. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers;
:p.143–49.
Hammer LD, Kraemer HC, Wilson DM, Ritter PL, Dornbusch
SM. Standardised percentile curves of body mass index for
children & adolescents. Am J Dis Child 1991;145:259–63.
Viewega WVR, Sood AB, Pandurangi A, Silverman JJ.
Application of body mass index principles in a model elementary
school: implications for overweight and obese children J Natl
Med Assoc 2004;96:468–75
Krebs NF, Jacobson MS; American Academy of Pediatrics
Committee on Nutrition. Prevention of pediatric overweight and
obesity. Pediatrics. 2003;112(2):424–30
Pelletier D, Frongillo Jr EA, Habicht JP. Epidemiologic evidence
for a potentiating effect of malnutrition on child mortality. Am J
Public Health 1993;83:1130–3.
A critical link. Interventions for physical growth and
psychological development: a review. Geneva, World Health
Organization, 1999. (WHO/CHS/CAH/99.3).
De Onis M, Frongillo EA, Blossner M. Is malnutrition
declining? An analysis of changes in levels of child
malnutrition since 1980. Bull World Health Org
;78:1222–33.
Smith L, Haddad N. Overcoming child malnutrition in
developing countries: past achievement and future choices.
Washington DC: International Food Policy Research Institute;
Published
Issue
Section
License
Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.
USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.
