الفهرس 
Malnutrition In ChildrenOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
A child’s nutritional status is a primary determinant of his health and well-being. Poor nutritional status has dire consequences throughout the life cycle of an individual which includes mortality, infections, cognitive impairment, lower work productivity, early onset and higher risks of developing NCD’s, stigma, and depression. These consequences have an effect on future generations thus affecting nations as a whole.
Egyptian children are suffering from both under nutrition and over nutrition, in what is globally known as the double burden of malnutrition.
The United Nations standing committee on nutrition endorsed the WHO Child Growth Standards in 2006 after the Multicenter Growth Reference study was concluded by the WHO in 2003. This study established guidelines for the healthy growth and development of all infants and young children in all countries around the world, and enabled all health providers and parents to monitor closely the growth of children between the ages of 0-60 month.
The consecutive Demographic and Health Survey in Egypt have clearly captured the nutritional problems of infants and children for over a decade. The Ministry of Health and Population endorsed the WHO growth standards and adopted the weight for age and height for age curves as the standard upon which the growth of its children is monitored. In late 2013, it established a Nutrition Unit within the Maternal and Child Health Department to combat this health threat. This unit has chosen two Governorates in Lower Egypt to set up a pilot of interventions to overcome the problems of malnutrition with a special emphasis on under nutrition.
This study’s objective: was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition detected by basic anthropometric assessment in children 0-60 month of age in selected rural areas of two districts in the governorates of Qalyubia and Gharbia, to establish a current baseline on nutritional status. It also aimed to explore the possible underlying factors of malnutrition in the selected areas.
The Fieldwork was conducted between 26 of November and 23 December 2013. In total, we randomly selected, enrolled and assessed 3917 children in this study from the health units of the two selected districts.
WHO-Anthro program version 3.2.2 was used to assess the nutritional status of the sample children and data was analyzed using IBM© SPSS© Statistics version 23. No statistically significant difference was observed concerning the demographic characteristics of the two study populations or in prevalence of the different forms of malnutrition.
Results revealed that overweight measured by the BAZ and stunting measured by the HAZ were the most common forms of malnutrition prevalent within the study population at 15.2%, and 11.3% respectively. Underweight measured by WAZ was observed in 2.3% of the population while wasting measured by WHZ was only found in 1.9% of the study population.
In our attempt to identify the possible underlying factors of malnutrition, we concentrated our efforts on the two indicators of malnutrition that showed a considerably high prevalence within the studied population. Stunting measured by (HAZ) index and overweight measured by (BAZ).
A statistically significant relationship between stunting and mothers education was observed; with mothers who were not educated or with only primary education having a higher probability of having a stunted child. The extremes of age for mothers was also a significant underlying factor for stunting with mothers over 35 and under 20 being the most susceptible. Child order also showed a relationship with stunting with an increased incidence of stunting as birth order increased, and finally the age of introducing complementary food with higher incidence above and below the optimal age of introduction 4-7 month.
With regards to overweigh, only 3 factors showed a strong relationship, the most important of which is the use of milk formula, which is the most preventable of the three. A Positive relation was also observed with child’s age with overweight being highest in the first 2 years of life and gender with males being more obese than females within the study group. No other variables showed significant statistical relationship with overweight.
In conclusion, the double burden of malnutrition in Egypt represents a continued threat to the health and productivity of the coming generation with serious financial, and quality of life implications that require a more systematic multidisciplinary approach to manage and mitigate.