Nutritional Status and Its Associated Factors among Under-Five Children in Bidur Municipality, Nuwakot District, Nepal: A Secondary Data Analysis

Background: Undernutrition among under-five children is a major public health problem in Nepal. The study's main objective was to assess the nutritional status and its associated factors among under-5 children of Bidur Municipality, Nuwakot district using secondary data analysis. Methods: We analyzed the data of 667 under-five children from 3183 households collected from the Community Health Diagnosis 2023 program database stored in the Kobo toolbox. Nutritional status indicators were measured by using the WHO classification. The chi-square test was applied to find out the association of nutritional status with independent variables such as maternal age at marriage, age at first child, antenatal, delivery, and post-natal care, exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding practices, and immunization status. Results: Nearly 32% (95%CI: 28.3-35.8) of the children were stunted, 12.1% (95%CI: 9.7-14.7) wasted, and 13.9% (95%CI: 11.4-16.6) were underweight. Early age at marriage, less than four ANC visits by the mother, history of substance use during pregnancy, and not exclusively breastfeeding were significantly associated with different forms of undernutrition. Conclusion: Promotion of exclusive breastfeeding and a higher number of ANC visits and discouraging early-age marriage and substance use during pregnancy are necessary to prevent undernutrition in under-five children. Keywords: Malnutrition, Nepal, under-five children