| Peer-Reviewed

Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community

Received: 24 December 2014     Accepted: 16 January 2015     Published: 2 March 2015
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains one of the most challenging global public health problems. To combat this problem, it is essential to reveal the magnitude of malnutrition and underlying socio- cultural factors influencing child feeding and raring. Despite satisfactory income levels, fishing families have low standards of living due to their different life styles and behavioral attitudes which can contribute to poor nutritional status among their children. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of marine fishing families in MOH area Ambalangoda. Study population consisted of all children (189) aged 1-5 years. Height and weight and nutritional status were assessed. Pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the selected socio-demographic and cultural factors of these families affecting the nutritional status. Results: Prevalence of different forms of malnutrition reported was underweight-31%, stunting-23% and wasting-11.2%. Prevalence of alcoholism was 37.9% while smoking was 45.5%. Parental level of education, mother’s employment status was not significantly related to the nutritional status. Significant association was found between maternal literacy with underweight and wasting while literacy of father with stunting. Father being an alcoholic was significantly related to wasting, stunting and underweight. Father’s state of smoking has also being identified as a significant associate of underweight and stunting. Method adopted to dispose excreta of children also found to be significantly associated factor with underweight of their preschool children. Conclusions and recommendations: Parental literacy, father’s substance abuse was identified as associated factors for malnutrition in this community and health educational and promotional programmes should be targeted towards these factors using audio visual aids considering the levels of literacy of parents.

Published in European Journal of Preventive Medicine (Volume 3, Issue 2-1)

This article belongs to the Special Issue New Frontiers of Public Health from the Pearl of Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka

DOI 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16
Page(s) 31-35
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Nutritional Status, Malnutrition, Preschool Children, Fishing Families, Associates

References
[1] De Onis, M. and Hubicht, J.P. 1997,Anthropometric reference data for international use: recommendation from a WHO expert committee, food and nutrition bulletin, 18( 2) , 179-188
[2] Schroeder, D. J., Brown, K.H. Nutritional status as a predictor of child survival: summarizing the association and quantifying its global impact, Bull World Health Organ. 1994; 72(4): 569–579.
[3] Demographic and Health Survey- 2006/07, Department of Census and Statistics, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Chapter 11 - Nutrition of children and women, pp135- 158
[4] Garrows, J.S., Human nutrition dietatics, Chapter 2; 1987, pp 13-15
[5] Department of census and statistics, Statistical abstract 2001, Chapter 7
[6] Leitan, T. 1995, Women in the fishing industry, Center for society and religion.
[7] Nutrition country profile Sri Lanka, 2010, Nutrition and consumer protection, Food and agriculture organization retrived from http://www.fao.org. Retrieved on 20/9/2014
[8] Elankumaran, C. 2003, Malnutrition in pre-school children of Jaffna Society- A post-exodus statistical perspective proceedings at the 9th International conference on Sri Lanka Studies, 28th – 30th November 2003, Matara, Sri Lanka
[9] Peiris, T.D.R..and D.G.N.G. Wijesinghe, Nutritional Status of under 5 Year-Old Children and its Relationship with Maternal Nutrition Knowledge in Weeraketiya DS division of Sri Lanka, Tropical Agricultural Research, 2010, 21(4): 330 - 339
[10] Rajapaksha, L. and Fernando, D. N. 1987, Sex difference as a risk factor in child malnutrition, Ceylon journal of child health; pp 17-25
[11] Wickramasinghe, N., Gunawardana, D. G., Wickramanayaka, T. M. 1989, Factors influencing the nutritional status of infants and preschool children of the urban poor, Ceylon Journal of Medical Sciences; 32(1): 929-941
[12] Arya, A. Devi, R. 1991, Influence of maternal literacy on the nutritional status of preschool children; Indian Journal of Paediatrics; 31(8): 265- 268
[13] Lamontagne, J., Engle, P.L., Zeithrin M.F. 1998, Maternal employment , child care and nutritional status of 12-18 months old children in Managua, Nikaragua, Social Science Medicine; 46(3): 23- 37
[14] Chaundhary, R. H.1984, Determinants of dietary intake and dietary adequacies for preschool children of Bangladesh, Food and nutrition bulletein; 6(4): 24- 32
[15] Charmarbagwala, R., Ranger, M., Waddington H., White, H. 2013 The Determinants Of Child Health And Nutrition: A Meta-Analysis retrieved at Child_health_nutrition.pdf on 19/9/2014
[16] Islam, M.A., Rahman, M.M., Mahalanabis, D. 1994 Maternal and socioeconomic factors and the risk of severe malnutrition in a child: a case-control study, Eur J Clin Nutr. ; 48(6):416-24.
[17] Islam, M. M., Alam, M., Tariquzaman M.D., Kabir, M.A., Pervin, R. Begum, M., Khan, M.D.M.H. 2013, Predictors of the number of under-five malnourished children in Bangladesh: application of the generalized poisson regression model; BMC Public Health 2013, 13:11
[18] Cohen, N. 1981, Smoking, health and survival prospects in Bangladesh, Lancet; 16(1), 8229: pp1222- 1233
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva, De Silva Hiranthi, Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna. (2015). Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community. European Journal of Preventive Medicine, 3(2-1), 31-35. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva; De Silva Hiranthi; Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna. Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community. Eur. J. Prev. Med. 2015, 3(2-1), 31-35. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva, De Silva Hiranthi, Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna. Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community. Eur J Prev Med. 2015;3(2-1):31-35. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16,
      author = {Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva and De Silva Hiranthi and Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna},
      title = {Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community},
      journal = {European Journal of Preventive Medicine},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2-1},
      pages = {31-35},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16},
      abstract = {Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains one of the most challenging global public health problems. To combat this problem, it is essential to reveal the magnitude of malnutrition and underlying socio- cultural factors influencing child feeding and raring. Despite satisfactory income levels, fishing families have low standards of living due to their different life styles and behavioral attitudes which can contribute to poor nutritional status among their children. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of marine fishing families in MOH area Ambalangoda. Study population consisted of all children (189) aged 1-5 years. Height and weight and nutritional status were assessed. Pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the selected socio-demographic and cultural factors of these families affecting the nutritional status. Results: Prevalence of different forms of malnutrition reported was underweight-31%, stunting-23% and wasting-11.2%. Prevalence of alcoholism was 37.9% while smoking was 45.5%. Parental level of education, mother’s employment status was not significantly related to the nutritional status. Significant association was found between maternal literacy with underweight and wasting while literacy of father with stunting. Father being an alcoholic was significantly related to wasting, stunting and underweight. Father’s state of smoking has also being identified as a significant associate of underweight and stunting. Method adopted to dispose excreta of children also found to be significantly associated factor with underweight of their preschool children. Conclusions and recommendations: Parental literacy, father’s substance abuse was identified as associated factors for malnutrition in this community and health educational and promotional programmes should be targeted towards these factors using audio visual aids considering the levels of literacy of parents.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community
    AU  - Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva
    AU  - De Silva Hiranthi
    AU  - Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna
    Y1  - 2015/03/02
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16
    T2  - European Journal of Preventive Medicine
    JF  - European Journal of Preventive Medicine
    JO  - European Journal of Preventive Medicine
    SP  - 31
    EP  - 35
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8230
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16
    AB  - Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains one of the most challenging global public health problems. To combat this problem, it is essential to reveal the magnitude of malnutrition and underlying socio- cultural factors influencing child feeding and raring. Despite satisfactory income levels, fishing families have low standards of living due to their different life styles and behavioral attitudes which can contribute to poor nutritional status among their children. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of marine fishing families in MOH area Ambalangoda. Study population consisted of all children (189) aged 1-5 years. Height and weight and nutritional status were assessed. Pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the selected socio-demographic and cultural factors of these families affecting the nutritional status. Results: Prevalence of different forms of malnutrition reported was underweight-31%, stunting-23% and wasting-11.2%. Prevalence of alcoholism was 37.9% while smoking was 45.5%. Parental level of education, mother’s employment status was not significantly related to the nutritional status. Significant association was found between maternal literacy with underweight and wasting while literacy of father with stunting. Father being an alcoholic was significantly related to wasting, stunting and underweight. Father’s state of smoking has also being identified as a significant associate of underweight and stunting. Method adopted to dispose excreta of children also found to be significantly associated factor with underweight of their preschool children. Conclusions and recommendations: Parental literacy, father’s substance abuse was identified as associated factors for malnutrition in this community and health educational and promotional programmes should be targeted towards these factors using audio visual aids considering the levels of literacy of parents.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 2-1
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Medical Officer, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka

  • Consultant in Community Medicine, Former director- Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Colombo, Sri Lanka

  • Medical Officer, Base Hospital, Balapitiya, Sri Lanka

  • Sections