Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains one of the most challenging global public health problems. To combat this problem, it is essential to reveal the magnitude of malnutrition and underlying socio- cultural factors influencing child feeding and raring. Despite satisfactory income levels, fishing families have low standards of living due to their different life styles and behavioral attitudes which can contribute to poor nutritional status among their children. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of marine fishing families in MOH area Ambalangoda. Study population consisted of all children (189) aged 1-5 years. Height and weight and nutritional status were assessed. Pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the selected socio-demographic and cultural factors of these families affecting the nutritional status. Results: Prevalence of different forms of malnutrition reported was underweight-31%, stunting-23% and wasting-11.2%. Prevalence of alcoholism was 37.9% while smoking was 45.5%. Parental level of education, mother’s employment status was not significantly related to the nutritional status. Significant association was found between maternal literacy with underweight and wasting while literacy of father with stunting. Father being an alcoholic was significantly related to wasting, stunting and underweight. Father’s state of smoking has also being identified as a significant associate of underweight and stunting. Method adopted to dispose excreta of children also found to be significantly associated factor with underweight of their preschool children. Conclusions and recommendations: Parental literacy, father’s substance abuse was identified as associated factors for malnutrition in this community and health educational and promotional programmes should be targeted towards these factors using audio visual aids considering the levels of literacy of parents.
| Published in |
European Journal of Preventive Medicine (Volume 3, Issue 2-1)
This article belongs to the Special Issue New Frontiers of Public Health from the Pearl of Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16 |
| Page(s) | 31-35 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Nutritional Status, Malnutrition, Preschool Children, Fishing Families, Associates
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APA Style
Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva, De Silva Hiranthi, Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna. (2015). Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community. European Journal of Preventive Medicine, 3(2-1), 31-35. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16
ACS Style
Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva; De Silva Hiranthi; Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna. Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community. Eur. J. Prev. Med. 2015, 3(2-1), 31-35. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16
AMA Style
Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva, De Silva Hiranthi, Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna. Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community. Eur J Prev Med. 2015;3(2-1):31-35. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16,
author = {Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva and De Silva Hiranthi and Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna},
title = {Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community},
journal = {European Journal of Preventive Medicine},
volume = {3},
number = {2-1},
pages = {31-35},
doi = {10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16},
abstract = {Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains one of the most challenging global public health problems. To combat this problem, it is essential to reveal the magnitude of malnutrition and underlying socio- cultural factors influencing child feeding and raring. Despite satisfactory income levels, fishing families have low standards of living due to their different life styles and behavioral attitudes which can contribute to poor nutritional status among their children. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of marine fishing families in MOH area Ambalangoda. Study population consisted of all children (189) aged 1-5 years. Height and weight and nutritional status were assessed. Pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the selected socio-demographic and cultural factors of these families affecting the nutritional status. Results: Prevalence of different forms of malnutrition reported was underweight-31%, stunting-23% and wasting-11.2%. Prevalence of alcoholism was 37.9% while smoking was 45.5%. Parental level of education, mother’s employment status was not significantly related to the nutritional status. Significant association was found between maternal literacy with underweight and wasting while literacy of father with stunting. Father being an alcoholic was significantly related to wasting, stunting and underweight. Father’s state of smoking has also being identified as a significant associate of underweight and stunting. Method adopted to dispose excreta of children also found to be significantly associated factor with underweight of their preschool children. Conclusions and recommendations: Parental literacy, father’s substance abuse was identified as associated factors for malnutrition in this community and health educational and promotional programmes should be targeted towards these factors using audio visual aids considering the levels of literacy of parents.},
year = {2015}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Nutritional Status of Preschool Children and Its Associates: A Sri Lankan Experience of a Fishing Community AU - Chandrasekara Karunamuni Pushpika Sudarshini De Silva AU - De Silva Hiranthi AU - Indrapala Waldeniyage Kolitha Prasanna Y1 - 2015/03/02 PY - 2015 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16 DO - 10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16 T2 - European Journal of Preventive Medicine JF - European Journal of Preventive Medicine JO - European Journal of Preventive Medicine SP - 31 EP - 35 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-8230 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.s.2015030201.16 AB - Introduction: Childhood malnutrition remains one of the most challenging global public health problems. To combat this problem, it is essential to reveal the magnitude of malnutrition and underlying socio- cultural factors influencing child feeding and raring. Despite satisfactory income levels, fishing families have low standards of living due to their different life styles and behavioral attitudes which can contribute to poor nutritional status among their children. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of marine fishing families in MOH area Ambalangoda. Study population consisted of all children (189) aged 1-5 years. Height and weight and nutritional status were assessed. Pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the selected socio-demographic and cultural factors of these families affecting the nutritional status. Results: Prevalence of different forms of malnutrition reported was underweight-31%, stunting-23% and wasting-11.2%. Prevalence of alcoholism was 37.9% while smoking was 45.5%. Parental level of education, mother’s employment status was not significantly related to the nutritional status. Significant association was found between maternal literacy with underweight and wasting while literacy of father with stunting. Father being an alcoholic was significantly related to wasting, stunting and underweight. Father’s state of smoking has also being identified as a significant associate of underweight and stunting. Method adopted to dispose excreta of children also found to be significantly associated factor with underweight of their preschool children. Conclusions and recommendations: Parental literacy, father’s substance abuse was identified as associated factors for malnutrition in this community and health educational and promotional programmes should be targeted towards these factors using audio visual aids considering the levels of literacy of parents. VL - 3 IS - 2-1 ER -
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