1. Nutritional and dietary diversity status of under-5 children and adolescent girls among forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals living in Bhasan Char relocation camp, Bangladesh: a cross-sectional survey.
- Author
-
Das S, Fahim SM, Rasul MG, Afrin S, Alam MA, Uz Zaman M, Chowdhury M, Arifeen SE, and Ahmed T
- Subjects
- Child, Adolescent, Male, Humans, Female, Cross-Sectional Studies, Bangladesh epidemiology, Myanmar epidemiology, Cachexia, Growth Disorders epidemiology, Nutritional Status, Thinness epidemiology
- Abstract
Objective: To generate baseline evidence regarding the nutritional and dietary diversity status of under-5 children and adolescent girls among forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (FDMN) relocated to Bhasan Char relocation camp of Bangladesh., Design: Cross-sectional survey., Setting: Bhasan Char relocation camp, Bangladesh, 7 November 2021-12 November 2021., Participants: 299 under-5 children (both male and female) and 248 adolescent girls (11-17 years) were surveyed., Outcome Measures: Anthropometric indices and nutritional status of the study participants., Results: Nearly 17% of the adolescent girls were suffering from severe thinness/thinness, while 5% were overweight/obese. Severe thinness was more prevalent (2% vs 3.9%) in older adolescents (15-17 years) than their younger counterparts (11-14 years). The prevalence of severe stunting and stunting in adolescents were 14% (95% CI 11.21 to 16.87%) and 29% (95% CI 25.93 to 31.59%), respectively. One-third of the surveyed under-5 children were severely (8.50% (95% CI 5.60 to 11.33%)) or moderately (23.08% (95% CI 20.24 to 25.90%)) stunted, 27% were either severely (4.43% (95% CI 1.60 to 7.27%)) or moderately (22.98% (95% CI 20.15 to 25.81%)) underweight and 12% were severely (1.21% (95% CI 0.00 to 4.04%)) or moderately (10.88% (95% CI 8.05 to 13.72%)) wasted. The prevalence of moderate and severe acute malnutrition in children was low. Surveyed adolescents took a mean of 3.10 (SD 1.03) of nine food groups and 25% (95% CI 22.97 to 28.64%) of under-5 children took minimum diversified diet. The survey respondents mostly consumed carbohydrate-based poorly diversified diets. Nutritional status of the participants did not show any statistically significant association to the dietary diversity status., Conclusion: A significant number of surveyed under-5 children and adolescent girls of relocated FDMN living in Bhasan Char of Bangladesh were suffering from thinness, stunting, underweight and wasting. Dietary diversity was poor among the surveyed population., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF