Utilization of geographic information system (GIS) in mapping the distribution of malnutrition among primary school children in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

Mohd Abu Bakar, Wan Azdie and Yahya, Noor Atirah and Ab Ghalib, Halimatun Saadiah and Mat Ya, Roselawati and Abdul Rahman, Rozlin and Sidek, Suriati (2023) Utilization of geographic information system (GIS) in mapping the distribution of malnutrition among primary school children in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. International Journal of Allied Health Sciences, 7 (1). pp. 2811-2819. E-ISSN 2600-8491

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Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to determine the nutritional status among primary school children in Kuantan, Pahang and to map its distribution using the Geographic Information System (GIS). Materials and Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conductedin Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. A stratified random sampling method was used to select 760 primary school children aged 7 to 11 years old from six subdivisions of Kuantan district. The socio-demographics characteristics and anthropometric measurements were collected from the participants. The participants’ home coordinates were obtained from the Google map based on their home address and the Geographical Information System (GIS) software was used to map and visualize the distribution of school children nutritional status. Results and Findings:Based on the three anthropometric measurements, it was found that 16.1% (n=122) of the school children were overweight, 12% (n=91) were obese, 6.1% (n=46) of them were moderately thin and 1.7% (n=13) were severely thin.There were 9.5 % (n=72) moderately stunted and 0.5% (n=4) severely stunted school children respectively. The result of mapping shows that there was a cluster pattern of obesity in some places in the urban area of Kuantan. Likewise, the distribution of stunting was seen to be overlapping with the overweight/obesity distribution. Conclusion: A high proportion of overweight and obesity among school children was identified in Kuantan and its distribution was mapped using GIS. The findings advocate the need for further investigation to identify the root cause of poor nutritional status in order to develop informed policy, guidelines and intervention program.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	School children, malnutrition, geographical information system (GIS), obesity
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology > RM216 Diet Therapy. Clinical Nutrition
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences > Department of Nutrition Sciences Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences > Department of Physical Rehabilitation Sciences Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences > Department of Psychology
Depositing User:	Dr. Wan Azdie Mohd Abu Bakar
Date Deposited:	10 Jan 2023 14:29
Last Modified:	11 Jan 2024 11:39
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/103133

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