Prevalence of Malnutrition and its Associated Factors regarding Malnutrition among under five in selected slum area of Ludhiana, Punjab

Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a intake of energy and nutrient. Malnutrition is not only an important cause of childhood mortality and morbidity, but also leads to permanent impairment of both physical and mental growth of those who survive. The objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence of malnutrition in under five, to explore its associated factors regarding malnutrition among under five, find out the association of prevalence with selected demographic variables. A quantitative research approach was used to conduct the study on children under five in selected slum area of Ludhiana. The sample consisted of 120 children by non probability-consecutive sampling technique. Data was collected by using Gomez classification to assess the prevalence of malnutrition and self-structured questionnaire to explore the associated factors among children under five. Data was collected by self report (interview) method. The result showed that the mean age with standard deviation of participants was mean age ±SD= 2.28 ±0.9. According to Gomez classification out of 120 children, 50(41.6%) of children are properly nourished, 45(37.5%) have a mild level of malnutrition followed by 24(20%) with moderate malnutrition and 1(0.8%) with severe malnutrition.