Nutritional status of children below five years in Malaysia: anthropometric analyses from the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey III (NHMS, 2006)

Khor, Geok Lin and Mohammad Nor, Safiza and Ab Rahman, Jamalludin and Haniff, Jamaiyah and Appannah, Geeta and Kee, Chee Cheong and Rasat, Rahmah and Wong, Alan N.F and Shahar, Suzana and Zainuddin, Ahmad Ali and Abdul Talib, Ruzita and Yusoff, Ahmad Fauzi (2009) Nutritional status of children below five years in Malaysia: anthropometric analyses from the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey III (NHMS, 2006). Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, 15 (2). pp. 121-136. ISSN 1394-035X

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Abstract

The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) was conducted in 2006 on a nationally representative sample of population in Malaysia. Over 21,000 children aged 0-17.9 years were measured for body weight and stature according to the protocol of the World Health Organization. This article describes the nutritional status of children aged 0-59.9 months. Mean z score for weightfor-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age were compared with the z-scores tables of the WHO standards. The overall prevalence of underweight and stunting of the children were 12.9% and 17.2% respectively. These levels included 2.4% severe underweight and 6.0% severe stunting. In terms of z scores, the age group of 0�5.9 months showed the best nutritional status with mean WAZ of -0.33 (95%CI: -0.52, 0.15) and -0.40 (-0.57, 0.24) for boys and girls respectively, while mean HAZ was 0.64 (0.38, 0.89) for boys and 0.76 (0.54, 0.98) for girls. Mean HAZ and WAZ status was least satisfactory after about 6 months, suggesting a faltering in growth rate at an age that coincides with dependence on complementary feeding. Prevalence of overweight based on BMI-for-age for the sexes combined was 6.4%, while that based on WAZ was 3.4%. The NHMS III results indicate that Malaysian children have better nutritional status compared to children under 5 years in neighbouring countries. In order to meet the targets set in the National Plan of Nutrition (2006-2015), more effective intervention programmes are needed to accelerate the reduction of underweight and stunting, and to arrest the rise of overweight in young children.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	3297/3691
Uncontrolled Keywords:	children below 5 years, nutritional status, third NHMS
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General) R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Heatlh. Child health services. Preventive health services for children
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Medicine Kulliyyah of Medicine > Department of Community Health & Family Medicine
Depositing User:	Dr Jamalludin Ab Rahman
Date Deposited:	06 Oct 2011 10:09
Last Modified:	07 Apr 2016 15:48
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/3691

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