Assessment of nutritional status indicators in children under five at Al-Hamdaniya District, North of Iraq

Objectives: To provide a data base for nutritional assessment indicators among children under five in Al-Hamdaniya district, North of Iraq.
Materials and Methods:
Study design: A cross sectional study.
Study setting: The present study was carried out in 3 primary health care centers. These are: Al-Hamdaniya primary health care center which has a population size in the catchment area of 38310, Bartella primary health care center (41029) and Al-Namrood primary health care center (25466). These centers are located in Al-Hamdaniya district in Nineveh Governorate, North of Iraq which has an overall population of 180980.
Study participants: Under five children who were brought to the chosen primary health care centers for vaccination purposes.
Outcome measures: Anthropometric measurements (weight and height/length) and WHO growth standard charts were used to compute the nutritional assessment indicators. Age and sex of the examined children were tested as a demographic attributes affect the study indicators.
Results: A total of 775 under five children were included in this study; of this sample, 41.4% were less than 6 months old, 53.3% were males. The prevalence of stunting, under weight, wasting, risk of over weight, over weight and obesity were 7.9%, 3.7%, 2.5%, 12.9%, 3.0% and 0.5%, respectively. Stunting is significantly prevalent at age group 24-<60 months with no sex difference. Wasting showed the same association with age group 0-<6 months. Risk of over weight, over weight and obesity were significantly present among children 24-<60 months old and among males.
Conclusion: The present study provides a base line data for nutritional assessment indicators among under fives in a local community in Iraq.
Keywords: Under nutrition, under fives, stunting, under weight, wasting, obesity.