ABSTRACT
Under-nutrition continues to be a primary cause of ill health and mortality among children in developing countries. Besides poverty, there are other factors that directly or indirectly affect the nutritional status of children. In the present study, an attempt was made to find the prevalence of under-nutrition among school children in 4 – 14 year age group and the role of socio-demographic characteristics of mother on child nutrition. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in schools of Kaski district of Western Nepal from January 2007 to June 2007. A total of 786 students were randomly selected from six schools in the study area and nutritional status of the children was assessed by anthropometric measurements. Results: Among 786 students, 26% of the students were found to be undernourished and 13% stunted, 12% wasted and only 1% both stunted and wasted. The present study shows highly significant association (p<0.005) of maternal factors like literacy, occupation, diet knowledge and monthly per-capita income respectively with child nutrition. Conclusion: Maternal education status, socio-economic status, occupation and dietary knowledge are important determinants of nutritional status of school children.
ABSTRACT
Birth weight is the most important factor that affects infant and child mortality. This one year study was conducted in a cohort of pregnant women to study the proportion of low birth weight babies and to find out the socio-economic and maternal risk factors affecting the birth weight of newborns and its medico-legal significance. Information regarding socio-economic status, obstetric history and present pregnancy was collected. These women were followed up till their delivery and birth weight was recorded with 24 hours of delivery. Birth weight was available for 256 births. The overall prevalence of low birth weight was 34.37%. Overall mean birth weight was found to be 2.64±0.444 with 95% confidence interval of 2.59-2.69. Primigravida mothers showed the highest prevalence of low birth weight (30.86%, p< 0.001). The main factors which were significantly associated with LBW were maternal education, stature, age at delivery; short inter pregnancy interval, inadequate antenatal care, and per capita income of family.