Malnutrition and Its Associated Factors among Children under Five: A Case Study of the Chattogram Division

Tackling malnutrition is a major global health priority for a developing country like Bangladesh. The main purpose of the study was to know the current malnutrition status of children under five years of age in the Chattogram division. A two-stage stratified random sampling design was used to collect the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data, 2022-2023, from which 1446 children aged 0 - 59 months and their mothers were included in this study according to the study area. The association between the selected factors and nutritional status was assessed, and logistic regression models were fitted for the three indicators, and a Chi-square test was performed to find the association of outcome variables with selected socio-demographic factors. Results reveal that about 31.88% of children were stunted, 18.53% of children were wasted, and 28.63% of children were underweight in the Chattogram division. Prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight was lowest among children aged 0 - 15 months and highest at the age of 16 to 30 months. The major contributing factors for under-five malnutrition were found to be child age, mothers’ education, fathers’ occupation, wealth index, birth order number, place of residence, mother’s antenatal care taken during and after pregnancy, partner’s occupation were significant factors for child malnutrition. Prevention of malnutrition in Bangladesh should, therefore, be seen as a significant public health issue and given top priority.