Background: Soc Son is mountainous, poorest district of Ha Noi, the rate of malnourished children was highest level (28,2% in 2003). Objectives: Description and assessment on the effectiveness of microcredit program for developing household economy and the impact of microcredit program on care for pregnant women, children and nutrition situation for children in 7 communes of Soc Son district in 3 years (2003-2006). Subjects and method: 167 poor households with malnourished child/children or pregnant women with low weight gain which were provided loans in 7 communes of Soc Son district; 169 children were born after 1/6/2001 and their mother in 167 households above. Method: cross-sectional descriptive method combine comparative analysis, using interview ballot, growth chart of National Institute of nutrition. Data processing by software EPI 6.0 and SPSS/PC 12.0. Results: The microcredit program had helped 95,0% households improve their economy remarkably, 54,5% of the households had improved income and food security. These improvements had influenced positively on practice of maternal and child care and malnutrition situation among children under 5 years old. The rate of pregnant women taking sufficient rest before birth delivery and having appropriate workload during pregnancy increased by 29,7%. Low-birth-weight newborns (<2,500 gram) had decreased by 11,5%. The rate of children with more than 3 complementary meals had increased by 8,5%. Malnutrition prevalence of children under 5 years old in 7 communes had decreased by 6,9%. Conclusion: The program has contributed to lower malnutrition prevalence of children under 5 years old in Soc Son district by 6,6%.
Child Nutrition Disorders/ diet therapy ; epidemiology ;

OBJECTIVETo understand the nutrition status of children under three years in rural area of western China and to explore the influencing factors so as to provide reasonable suggestions for policy making.

METHODSUse PPS sampling method to investigate the 13,532 children under three years old. Height and weight were used as nutritional indexes.

RESULTSThe prevalence of stunting (height for age Z-score < -2), underweight (weight for age Z-score < -2) and wasting (weight for height Z-score < -2) were 12.4%,11.8% and 5.7% respectively. Boys, minority and the children from western China had higher prevalence rate. The prevalence rates of the Han nationality children's underweight and stunting were 9.5% and 9.8%, but these rates of the minority children were 15.6% and 16.5% respectively, which were obviously higher than the Han ethnicity children with significant differences between them (P <0.01).The prevalence of malnutrition was rising with age and the peak age of stunting, underweight and wasting appeared at 21 months, 12 months and 15 months, respectively. Compared with growth reference of NCHS/WHO, the HAZ, WAZ and WHZ left moved 0.59,0.60 and 0.26 units which indicated the whole nutritional status of children from program area impaired to some extent. Underweight inclined to have higher two-week prevalence rates of diarrhea and flu than in the normal children,achieving 15.9% and 13.5%, but with significant differences between them (P<0.01). We administered non-conditional logistic regression analysis to identify the influencing factors of malnutrition. Under-6-month children who were not taken care by their mothers showed higher risk of stunting. Over-6-month children stunting had significant relationship with age, gender, sibling order, nationality,maternal educational level,special cooking for children and residential region. Underweight of over-6-month children significantly related to age, nationality, and maternal educational level, yolk supply during 6-8 month old and living region.

CONCLUSIONMalnutrition was really prevalent among children in China,suggesting that intervention should be done according to the influencing factors.

Child Nutrition Disorders ; epidemiology ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Nutrition Assessment ; Nutritional Status ; Prevalence

Malnutrition is not a simple disease, which occurs in the condition when the body does not get the right amount of nutrients to maintain healthy tissues and organ functions. Malnutrition generally refers both to undernutrition and overnutrition, but usually it is used to refer solely to a deficiency of nutrition. Infants and young children are the most vulnerable because of their high nutritional requirements for growth and development. Growth is an important indicator of health and nutritional status of a child. Generally, underweight, studding and wasting are used as the indicators of malnutrition. In fact, a gain in height is a better indicator of the adequacy of a diet than a gain in weight. Rates of weight gain needs to accompany accelerated height gain to maintain normal body proportions (weight-for-height). Now therefore WHO recommends using weight-for-height as the indicator of malnutrition of epidemic intensity in communities and of nutritional condition evaluation, including treatment assessment. The assessment of nutritional status is commonly summarized by the mnemonic "ABCD," which stands for anthropometric measurement (A), biochemical or laboratory tests (B), clinical indicators (C) and dietary assessment (D). Children with malnutrition are required to ingest more than 30 essential nutrients including both functional, protective nutrients (type I) and growth nutrients (type II), in order to have a catch-up growth in weight and height.
Child ; Child Nutrition Disorders ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; Humans ; Nutritional Status

OBJECTIVETo describe the impact of the global economic crisis on the nutritional status of children in China during and after the crisis.

METHODSData from 1990 to 2010 were sourced from the National Food and Nutrition Surveillance System. Approximately 16 000 children under 5 years old were selected using a stratified random cluster method from 40 surveillance sites. Anthropometric and hemoglobin measurements for children under 5 were conducted. Nutritional status was determined according to WHO child growth standards.

RESULTSPrevalence of underweight and stunting in children under 5 had a downward trend. Underweight prevalence was close to normal (less than 5%), with prevalence of stunting 12.6% in 2009 and 12.1% in 2010 in rural areas. Prevalence of stunting in infants under 6 months and 6-12 months old in poorer rural areas increased from 5.7%-9.1% and 6.7%-12.5%, respectively, in 2008-2009. This trend also continued post-crisis in 2010. Prevalence of stunting in children left behind by mothers was 20%-30% higher than in children the same age in general and poorer rural areas. Prevalence of anemia in children did not change in rural areas, but prevalence of anemia in all age groups increased in poorer rural areas, especially in children under 24 months old. Level reached 30%-40% in 2009, and fluctuated in 2010.

CONCLUSIONThe nutritional status of children under 5 was comparatively stable during and after the global economic crisis, attributable to the Chinese government's policy response. The nutritional status in poorer rural areas fluctuated in response to the economic crisis and, thus, relevant action and intervention must be taken immediately to help the most vulnerable population in poorer rural areas. A proper national nutritional strategy for children under 2 years old, including nutrition supplementation for pregnant women and in-home fortification for complementary feeding, should be initiated.

Aging ; Anemia ; economics ; epidemiology ; Child Development ; physiology ; Child Nutrition Disorders ; economics ; epidemiology ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Economic Recession ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Nutrition Disorders ; economics ; epidemiology ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; physiology ; Population Surveillance ; Poverty ; Pregnancy ; Prevalence ; Rural Population ; Thinness ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo assess nutritional status among children younger than 3 years in 40 counties of western China, using anthropometry.

METHODSWith cross-sectional study and random sampling, a survey with a sample size of 7252 was conducted in 40 counties of western China on children under 3 years old. Height and weight were measured and nutrition status was evaluated with WHO/NCHS reference using Z scores.

RESULTSSD of height for age (HA) and weight for age (WA) were 1.10 - 1.30 and 1.06 - 1.40, respectively and SD of WAZ for infants varied. The distribution of HA Z and WAZ shifted downward to 1 unit and 0.4 unit for distribution of weight for height (WHZ). The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting were 23.0%, 22.6% and 7.5% respectively. The prevalence rates were low among those yourger than 3 months. Stunting and underweight increased sharply after 6 months and reached 20% - 30%. Significant correlation was found between underweight and stunting or wasting with coefficients of 0.815 and 0.636, respectively. No correlation was found between stunting and wasting.

CONCLUSIONThe nutrition status adversely affected children as a whole but not only for individuals. There was a higher prevalence of malnutrition mainly on low height to children. Weight for age must be interpreted cautiously because of the inability of this indicator in distinguishing stunting and wasting just by itself. Assessment by anthropometry called for accurate information on age and measurement of height and weight.

Anthropometry ; Body Height ; Body Weight ; Child Nutrition Disorders ; epidemiology ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Nutritional Status ; Prevalence

OBJECTIVETo describe the undernutrition status of children under 5-year in China, and study the trend between 2002 and 2013).

METHODSThe study was based on two national surveys. Undernutrition was determined against WHO's 2006 growth standards. The prevalence in 2013 and 2002 was weighted by China sixth National Population Census (2010). The relationship between undernutrition and gender/age groups/different areas use weighted logistic regression.

RESULTSThe results indicated the overall prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting of Chinese children under 5-year was 8.1%, 2.4%, and 1.9% in 2013, respectively. The prevalence of stunting was higher for children aged 12-47 month, while underweight was higher for children aged 48-59 month. The prevalence of undernutrition was higher in rural areas than in urban areas, especially in poor rural areas. There was a decline of stunting, underweight, and wasting between 2002 and 2013 among the children, with greater reduction in rural areas than in urban areas.

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of undernutrition of children under 5-year remains high in rural areas especially in poor rural areas in China. It is urgent to take action to control undernutrition in the vulnerable areas and subgroups.

Child Nutrition Disorders ; epidemiology ; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Malnutrition ; epidemiology ; Prevalence ; Thinness ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe frequency and quantity of total dairy consumption of Chinese children and adolescents and explore the associations between dairy consumption and nutrition status, including stunting, wasting, overweight, and obesity. METHODS: Participants included 28,250 children and adolescents aged 6-17 years old. A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) including 100 kinds of food was used to collect information about frequency and quantity of dairy consumption. Determination of stunting was with a height cutoff value for age and gender, and determination for wasting, overweight, and obesity was with BMI for age and gender. RESULTS: Of the total sample, 36.1% of children aged 6-17 reported consuming dairy food more than once per day (⪖ 1/day). The average total dairy intake of all the participants was 126.7 g/day. For boys, dairy consumption had an inverse correlation with stunting and wasting after controlling for confounders. For girls, dairy consumption was negatively associated with stunting and obesity after controlling for confounders as above. CONCLUSION Dairy consumption in Chinese children and adolescents was relatively lower than that in developed countries, and was negatively associated with stunting and wasting for boys and with stunting and obesity for girls.
Adolescent ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Dairy Products ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Growth Disorders ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Nutritional Status ; Pediatric Obesity ; epidemiology ; Wasting Syndrome ; epidemiology

Child ; Child Nutrition Sciences ; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; China ; Food Supply ; Growth Disorders ; epidemiology ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Malnutrition ; epidemiology ; Poverty ; Sanitation

OBJECTIVETo investigate and analyze the nutritional status of infants, preschool and primary school students, pregnant and lactating women in Wenchuan earthquake disaster area after 3 months.

METHODSIn August 2008, the nutritional and health status information of special population were collected and evaluated using the questionnaires, anthropometric and hemoglobin concentration measurements from four settlements of villages and towns in Mao and Mianzhu Country of Sichuan and Kang Country and Wudu District in Gansu provinces. A total of 236 infants aged below 36 months, 48 preschool children, 368 primary students, 32 pregnant women and 72 lactating women were investigated. Principal investigator indexes included the low body weight, growth retardation, anemia prevalence, two-week prevalence of diarrhea and respiratory disease, food intake and nutrition-related diseases, the percentage of patients morbidity of 36 months infants, preschool and primary school students; the prevalence of anemia, the prevalence of nutrition-related diseases of pregnant and lactating women.

RESULTSThe stunting prevalence was 14.6% (34/236) and the anemia prevalence was up to 40.1% (61/236) among infants younger than 36 months. Besides, the percentages of infants and young children suffered from the respiratory-infected disease and diarrhea within recent two weeks were 40.4% (95/236) and 30.2% (71/236) respectively. The percentage of low body weight of preschool children was 14.6% (7/48) and the growth retardation and anemia prevalence was 14.6% (7/48) and 39.6% (19/48), respectively. Among primary students, 6.3% (23/368) showed growth retardation and 12.2% (45/368) were anemia. The prevalence of anemia status of pregnant women and lactating mothers were 53.9% (17/32) and 24.4% (18/72) respectively. The main food composition of 45.8% (33/72) lactating women were grain and vegetables, 29 (40.3%), 32 (44.4%), 28 (38.9%) and 53 (73.6%) lactating women did not have animal originated (including meat, aquatic, livestock and poultry products) food, eggs, beans and their products, milk and dairy products, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSpecial population lived in disaster area have suffered different degree of malnutrition. The main dietary pattern was vegetable food. The consumption of meat, eggs, milk and milk products was relatively insufficient.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Lactation ; Male ; Nutrition Disorders ; epidemiology ; Nutritional Status ; Pregnancy ; Students ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

This paper reviews the importance of childhood malnutrition in Papua New Guinea and other developing countries. Emphasis is given to two important causes: chronic disease and limited food supply. Definitions and diagnostic criteria for malnutrition are discussed with particular focus on the mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC). The design of a MUAC measuring tape with written treatment guidelines for use at the aid post level and a pilot project used to test the tape are described. The rationale for six treatment steps for malnutrition are described. The importance of community education, support through church groups and effective ongoing preventive health programs at the village level are stressed.
Child ; Chronic Disease ; Clinical Protocols ; Community Health Services ; Diarrhea - prevention & ; control ; Food Supply ; Health Education ; Health Surveys ; Nutrition Disorders - epidemiology ; Papua New Guinea - epidemiology