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Assessment of nutritional status among pre-school children aged between 3-5 years in Mahiyanganaya DS division, Sri Lanka

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
  • 2Departent of Agricultural chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
  • 3Departent of Agricultural chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka

Int. Res. J. Social Sci., Volume 7, Issue (4), Pages 1-5, April,14 (2018)

Abstract

The nutritional status of the students at school should be adequate to produce well educated, skill full persons to drive the country in correct way for a bright future. Since pre-school community's' nutrition status has impact on nutritional status of school students, assessment as well as improvement of nutritional status among pre-school children is essential. Considering this fact, a nutritional survey was carried out among the pre-school children aged between 3-5 years in the Mahiyanganaya DS Division which is in the Badulla District of Uva Province, Sri Lanka. 150 Pre School children age of between 3-5 years were selected as samples from randomly selected school. According to the data collected with respect to BMI in the study area, 21.3% of children were in severe malnutrition (BMI < 14) and 42.7% (BMI: 14 - 16.5) were in moderate malnutrition and only 28.7% (BMI: 16.5 - 20) are in ideal condition and 7.3% (BMI > 20) are in the category of over nutrition. Furthermore, prevalence of 70%, 45.3% and 56.7% were reported for anthropometric indicators of wasting, underweight and stunting respectively. Morbidity, low birth weight, inadequate dietary energy intake and socioeconomic background were the main causes of malnutrition in studied sample. Among the socioeconomic variable, monthly income and educational level of household had positive co-relation while family size had negative co-relation with BMI.

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