Frequency and determinants of malnutrition in children aged between 6 to 59 months in district tharparkar,a rural area of Sindh

Objective: to assess the nutritional status of children living in tharparkar. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted in four villages of tharparkar district of sindh,pakistan,in 2014,and comprised children aged between 6 and 59 months. data was collected from mothers and anthropometry of children was done using standard techniques. nutritional status was assessed by using age- and sex-specific world health organisation standard charts for underweight,stunting and wasting. data was analysed using spss 16. result: of the 304 children assessed,117(38.5%) were stunted,58(19.1 %) were wasted and 101(33.2 %) were underweight with no gender discrimination. under-nutrition was particularly observed in the second year of life. statistically significant factors associated with stunting were illiteracy of mother,family size of >5 members,pregnancy>4 times,child mortality in last 6 months,absence of breastfeeding and no history of child vaccination(p<0.05 each). logistic regression revealed family size of ≤5 members,pregnancy?4 times,breastfeeding and vaccination were protective factors for stunting (p<0.05 each). mortality of a child in the last 6 months in the family was 3 times more likely to have a stunted child. conclusion: stunting was the most common type of under-nutrition with no sex discrimination. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.