Maternal Stature and Child Growth in Pakistan
| Autor: | Nazli Javid, 查娜莉 |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 107 Background: Malnourished children of under five years of age often suffer from severe illnesses and associated with a higher risk of delayed development, lower cognitive function, and poor school performance. Pakistan is among the countries with a dramatically higher prevalence of malnourished children under five years old. In particular, Pakistan has the highest stunted growth of 45 percent in South-Asia, followed by Afghanistan with 41 percent. Although, Pakistan has made advancements in sectors like education, health, and technology, however, malnutrition among children under age five children is still an alarming public health problem and require serious attention. Objectives: This study aims to find the effects of maternally related features (e.g., mothers’ stature, weight, education, economic status, etc.) on children stunting, underweight, wasting, and overweight. Methods: Demographic and Health Surveys of 2012-13 is utilized in this study. The survey represents nation-wise data and reveals the current status of the country. It collects information regarding gender, maternal and child health, family planning, fertility, AIDS & HIV, malaria, nutrition intake, etc. Among 13,944 households, 12,943 were effectively questioned where 3354 number of children and 2327 number of mothers were found. Results: The results showed that the overall prevalence of stunting, underweight, wasting, and overweight in our sample was 45%, 26.2%, 9.9%, and 9.5%, respectively. Short stature mothers have a higher number of malnourished children as compared to taller mothers. In particular, stunted, underweight, wasted, and overweight children of short/tall stature mothers were 62.7%/41.7%, 37.7%/24.1%, 10.4%/9.7%, and 15.2%/8.2%, respectively. Compared to tall mothers, short stature mothers with no, primary, secondary, and higher education have a higher number of stunted and underweight children which decreases with increase in education level, however, wasting and overweight do not have clear trends. The Bivariate analysis revealed that maternal stature, education, socioeconomic status, and weight are significantly associated with all four indicators of malnutrition. Conclusions: The outcomes of this study show that malnutrition among children under age five is still a problem in Pakistan. Maternal stature, education, socioeconomic status, and weight were found to be significantly associated with child stunting, underweight, wasting, and overweight. Policy Implication: Policies providing special care to children born to short stature mothers’ is crucial along with emphasizing mothers’ education. Moreover, a poverty elevation program is necessary so that mothers could get benefits of buying required food and supplements as pre- and postnatal care because a significant fraction of childhood malnutrition is attributed to wealth index |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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