Despite marked improvement in child undernutrition, especially stunting, in Nepal over the past decade, stunting prevalence remains high at 41% thus generating an urgent need to understand factors associated with childhood stunting.
The earthquake that hit Nepal in April, 2015, caused considerable structural damage and loss of life but little is known about the longer term impacts of the earthquake on nutritional status of preschool children and related risk factors. This analysis provides the first systematic national estimate of the nutritional situation in Nepal following the earthquake.
In Nepal, limited availability and affordability of nutritious foods contribute to malnutrition. To identify nutrient deficiencies in commonly consumed diets and model lowest cost changes that could improve diet quality in 3 agroecological zones of Nepal.?The modeled lowest cost diet commonly eaten in 3 Nepalese communities lacks key nutrients. Policies and interventions that increase market availability and consumption of vitamin B12- and calcium-rich fish and dark green leafy vegetables could improve local diets, particularly in the mountains and hills.
Despite substantial reductions in recent years in Nepal, stunting prevalence in children younger than 5 years remains high and represents a leading public health concern. To identify factors contributing to the stunting burden, we report multilevel risk factors associated with stunting in 4,853 children aged 6–59 months in a nationally and agroecologically representative random sample from the first year of the Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture, and Nutrition Community Studies, a community‐based observational, mixed‐panel study.
This presentation was delivered by Sudeep Shrestha in November?2015 at the International Conference on Maternal and Child Nutrition in Sri Lanka.
Food insecurity is a global concern, yet its association with child growth is not fully understood. This study in rural Bangladesh explored associations between household food insecurity, using standardized questions, and infant growth. We asked a published 10-item, 6-mo household food insecurity questionnaire at 6 and 12 mo postpartum to 6,333 mothers participating in an antenatal micronutrient supplementation trial.
Objectives: Describe the prevalence of anemia in Nepali non-pregnant women of reproductive age by agroecological zone and potential risk factors.
Baseline findings of this nationally representative study reveal variations in nutritional status, household food security, agricultural production and practices, and sanitation between the agro ecological zones of Nepal. Undernutrition in under-five children and women was found to be consistently worse in the terai (with the exception of under-five stunting rates being approximately 36%). Household food insecurity was 40% across the PoSHAN sample during the May - July 2013 season; with terai households found to be least food insecure.
John Hopkins' PoSHAN review at the 2nd Annual Scientific Symposium, August 2013.
Objective: Describe the prevalence of anemia in Nepali non-pregnant women of reproductive age by agroecological zone and potential risk factors.