TY - JOUR
T1 - Preschool Child Nutritional Status in Nepal in 2016
T2 - A National Profile and 40-Year Comparative Trend
AU - Angela, K. C.
AU - Thorne-Lyman, Andrew L.
AU - Manohar, Swetha
AU - Shrestha, Binod
AU - Klemm, Rolf
AU - Adhikari, Ramesh Kant
AU - Webb, Patrick
AU - West, Keith P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The PoSHAN surveys and other field studies were supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Feed the Future Nutrition Innovation Lab under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-L-10-00006 managed by the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID. Additional assistance of the Sight and Life Global Nutrition Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1141435) is acknowledged. The authors gratefully acknowledge UNICEF for support with acquiring MUAC tapes, The Government of Nepal for their overall support during the conduct of this 4-year study, New ERA Pvt Ltd and Nepali Technical Assistance Group in Kathmandu for conducting field work and data management, and the PoSHAN-Nepal team for its roles in implementing and managing the surveys.
Funding Information:
The PoSHAN surveys and other field studies were supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Feed the Future Nutrition Innovation Lab under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-L-10-00006 managed by the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID. Additional assistance of the Sight and Life Global Nutrition Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1141435) is acknowledged. The authors gratefully acknowledge UNICEF for support with acquiring MUAC tapes, The Government of Nepal for their overall support during the conduct of this 4-year study, New ERA Pvt Ltd and Nepali Technical Assistance Group in Kathmandu for conducting field work and data management, and the PoSHAN-Nepal team for its roles in implementing and managing the surveys. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - Background: Preschool child anthropometric status has been assessed nationally in Nepal since 1975, with semi-decadal surveys since 1996, plus several recent, short-interval surveys to track progress toward achieving a World Health Assembly (WHA) goal to reduce stunting to 24% by 2025. Objective: We report prevalence of preschool child stunting and wasting from a national survey in 2016 and place findings into the context of national trends and alignment for Nepal to attain its WHA 2025 goal. Methods: A representative, midyear Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture and Nutrition (PoSHAN) survey was conducted in 2016 on 5479 children <60 months in 4051 households in 21 village development committees. Child weight and height were measured, and sociodemographic factors were assessed. Data from previous surveys (Nepal Demographic Health Surveys, PoSHAN) were also acquired, and rates of stunting (<−2 height-for-age z score) and wasting (<−2 weight-for-height z score) were compared to current World Health Organization standards. Trends were expressed as average annual rates of reduction (AARR). Results: Nationally, in 2016, 34.1% of preschoolers were stunted and 13.7% wasted. Stunting was highest in the Mountains (40.6%) and wasting highest in the Tarai (18.9%). Trend analysis revealed a steady decline (3.8% AARR) in stunting from 2001 to 2013, with virtually no decline from 2013 to 2016. Wasting has been continually high and variable, at ≥8%, since 1975. Conclusions: Following a steady decline in prevalence, preschool child stunting has plateaued at ∼35% in Nepal, while wasting has changed little over time, offering the opportunity to inform, reassess, and adjust, as needed, efforts to reach WHA 2025 goals.
AB - Background: Preschool child anthropometric status has been assessed nationally in Nepal since 1975, with semi-decadal surveys since 1996, plus several recent, short-interval surveys to track progress toward achieving a World Health Assembly (WHA) goal to reduce stunting to 24% by 2025. Objective: We report prevalence of preschool child stunting and wasting from a national survey in 2016 and place findings into the context of national trends and alignment for Nepal to attain its WHA 2025 goal. Methods: A representative, midyear Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture and Nutrition (PoSHAN) survey was conducted in 2016 on 5479 children <60 months in 4051 households in 21 village development committees. Child weight and height were measured, and sociodemographic factors were assessed. Data from previous surveys (Nepal Demographic Health Surveys, PoSHAN) were also acquired, and rates of stunting (<−2 height-for-age z score) and wasting (<−2 weight-for-height z score) were compared to current World Health Organization standards. Trends were expressed as average annual rates of reduction (AARR). Results: Nationally, in 2016, 34.1% of preschoolers were stunted and 13.7% wasted. Stunting was highest in the Mountains (40.6%) and wasting highest in the Tarai (18.9%). Trend analysis revealed a steady decline (3.8% AARR) in stunting from 2001 to 2013, with virtually no decline from 2013 to 2016. Wasting has been continually high and variable, at ≥8%, since 1975. Conclusions: Following a steady decline in prevalence, preschool child stunting has plateaued at ∼35% in Nepal, while wasting has changed little over time, offering the opportunity to inform, reassess, and adjust, as needed, efforts to reach WHA 2025 goals.
KW - Nepal
KW - nutritional status
KW - preschool
KW - stunting
KW - wasting
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U2 - 10.1177/0379572120916343
DO - 10.1177/0379572120916343
M3 - Article
C2 - 32522131
AN - SCOPUS:85086320227
SN - 0379-5721
VL - 41
SP - 152
EP - 166
JO - Food and Nutrition Bulletin
JF - Food and Nutrition Bulletin
IS - 2
ER -