Socio-economic Determinants of Severe and Moderate Stunting among Under-Five Children of Rural Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Malnutrition among under-five children is a chronic problem in developing countries. This study explores the socio-economic determinants of severe and moderate stunting among under-five children of rural Bangladesh. Methods: The study used data from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Cross-sectional and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to assess the effect of the socio-demographic variables on moderate and severe stunting over normal among the children. Results: Findings revealed that over two-fifths of the children were stunted, of which 26.3% were moderately stunted and 15.1% were severely stunted. The multivariate multinomial logistic regression analysis yielded significantly increased risk of severe stunting (OR=2.53, 95% CI=1.34-4.79) and moderate stunting (OR=2.37, 95% CI=1.47-3.83) over normal among children with a thinner mother. Region, father’s education, toilet facilities, child’s age, birth order of children and wealth index were also important determinants of children’s nutritional status. Conclusion: Development and poverty alleviation programmes should focus on the disadvantaged rural segments of people to improve their nutritional status.