TY - JOUR
T1 - Nutritional Status Among School-Age Children of Bangladeshi Tea Garden Workers
AU - Iqbal, Mohd Shamim
AU - Palmer, Amanda C.
AU - Waid, Jillian
AU - Rahman, S. M.Mustafizur
AU - Bulbul, Md M.Islam
AU - Ahmed, Tahmeed
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through a grant to Helen Keller International. Additional support was provided by the Sight and Life Global Nutrition Research Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Background: While considerable progress has been made in reducing undernutrition in Bangladesh, regional disparities are known to exist, and certain population subgroups may lag behind. Objective: To characterize nutritional status among school-age children in a historically marginalized population of Bangladesh. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of children attending 14 nongovernmental organization-operated schools serving the tea estate population in Kulaura Upazila, Sylhet Division. We randomly selected 168 children from a population of 418 whose parents attended school-organized Parent–Teacher Association meetings. Parents provided consent and data on household food consumption in the past week, foods consumed by children in the past 24 hours, and household food insecurity. We drew venous blood from assenting children for the analysis of hemoglobin and plasma retinol, C-reactive protein, and α1-acid glycoprotein. Children were classified as stunted, underweight, or thin based on comparisons with the World Health Organization standards for height-for-age, weight-for-age, or body mass index-for-age, respectively. Results: Food insecurity was highly prevalent, with ∼85% of households affected. Roughly half of children had low dietary diversity. Prevalence estimates for stunting, underweight, and thinness were 32%, 50%, and 49%, respectively. Approximately 60% of children had a hemoglobin concentration <11 g/dL. The mean (±SD) plasma retinol concentration was 0.79 μmol/L (±0.23 μmol/L), with 34% deficient using a 0.70 μmol/L cutoff. Conclusions: A heightened focus on tracking progress in underserved populations and appropriately targeted programming will be critical as Bangladesh seeks to accelerate progress toward global development goals for nutrition.
AB - Background: While considerable progress has been made in reducing undernutrition in Bangladesh, regional disparities are known to exist, and certain population subgroups may lag behind. Objective: To characterize nutritional status among school-age children in a historically marginalized population of Bangladesh. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of children attending 14 nongovernmental organization-operated schools serving the tea estate population in Kulaura Upazila, Sylhet Division. We randomly selected 168 children from a population of 418 whose parents attended school-organized Parent–Teacher Association meetings. Parents provided consent and data on household food consumption in the past week, foods consumed by children in the past 24 hours, and household food insecurity. We drew venous blood from assenting children for the analysis of hemoglobin and plasma retinol, C-reactive protein, and α1-acid glycoprotein. Children were classified as stunted, underweight, or thin based on comparisons with the World Health Organization standards for height-for-age, weight-for-age, or body mass index-for-age, respectively. Results: Food insecurity was highly prevalent, with ∼85% of households affected. Roughly half of children had low dietary diversity. Prevalence estimates for stunting, underweight, and thinness were 32%, 50%, and 49%, respectively. Approximately 60% of children had a hemoglobin concentration <11 g/dL. The mean (±SD) plasma retinol concentration was 0.79 μmol/L (±0.23 μmol/L), with 34% deficient using a 0.70 μmol/L cutoff. Conclusions: A heightened focus on tracking progress in underserved populations and appropriately targeted programming will be critical as Bangladesh seeks to accelerate progress toward global development goals for nutrition.
KW - Bangladesh
KW - anemia
KW - school-age children
KW - tea garden
KW - vitamin A deficiency
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U2 - 10.1177/0379572120965299
DO - 10.1177/0379572120965299
M3 - Article
C2 - 33084406
AN - SCOPUS:85093824134
SN - 0379-5721
VL - 41
SP - 424
EP - 429
JO - Food and nutrition bulletin
JF - Food and nutrition bulletin
IS - 4
ER -