Prevalence of malnutrition in under 6- year old children in South Khorasan in 2006

Malnutrition is one of the important health problems throughout the world, particularly in developing countries, which has undesirable effects on mental and physical health of children. It is an underlying factor of infection and an important cause of child mortality in these countries. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of malnutrition in children under 6 in south Khorasan in 2006. This cross sectional and descriptive analytical study was done on 1807 children under 6 in south Khorasan, belonging to six urban and rural regions, applying multistage cluster sampling methodology. Data collection was done by trained family-health associates and family-health workers through measuring of weight and height for Seca, and structural questionnaires ANIS, and face-to-face interviews with mothers. To study malnutrition, three indices were used namely “weight to age” (underweight),”weight to height”(leanness),and “height to age”(shortness).The obtained data was analyzed by means of chi-square test, SPSS software and EPI-Info 2000, and α= 0.05 was taken as the significant level. Out of 1807 children 51.7% were males, 52.2% were living in urban areas and 37% were under 24 months old and the rest over 24. Weight index showed that 52.2% were normal, 34.4% were lightly under weight, 11.7% moderately underweight and 1.2% were severely underweight. Prevalence of underweight had a significant relationship to habitation, mother's job and parent's education level. Regarding standing criteria 55% were normal, 28.4% were lightly short, 12.7% were moderate, and 3.9% were extremely short. Stunting had a significant relationship to habitation, age, mother's job and parent's level of education (P<0.05). Wasting criteria showed that 67.8% had normal wasting, 24.7% light wasting, 5.9% moderate wasting and 1.6% had severe wasting. This had a significant relationship to sex and habitation (P<0.05). With regard to high prevalence of malnutrition in children and its relationship to socio-economic variables, measures such as increasing parents’ education especially mother's knowledge, constancy of breast feeding until the age of 2 years, and promoting nutrition status of children under 6 years and mothers’ knowledge of children’s nutrition are recommended.