Malnutrition prevalence among toddlers based on family characteristics: A cross-sectional study in the rural and urban areas of Aceh, Indonesia

Introduction: Malnutrition among toddlers can be correlated to family characteristics, access to food and the socio-economic background of the family in rural and urban areas. These situations influence the children’s nutrition status.

Objectives: To identify the prevalence of malnutrition and the related factors among toddlers in rural and urban areas based on family characteristics in Aceh Province, Indonesia.

Method: A cross-sectional study was performed among 600 households with toddlers in rural and urban areas. A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure family characteristics. The toddlers’ height and weight were measured to identify their nutritional status. Data were analysed using Chi-square.

Results: The prevalence of malnutrition among toddlers was higher in urban areas than in rural areas with underweight (59.7% vs. 40.3%), stunting (51.0% vs. 49.0%), and wasting (52.3% vs. 47.7%). There were no differences between underweight and stunting problems in urban and rural areas (p> 0.05). However, there were differences between wasting in urban and rural areas, related to mothers’ education (p= 0.031) and mothers’ occupation (p= 0.014)

Conclusions: Mothers’ education and the mothers’ job status were significantly different regarding their effect on the child’s wasted status in rural and urban areas (p<0.05). Mother’s job status was significantly different regarding its effect on the child’s overweight status in rural and urban areas (p<0.05).

Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2020; 49(3): 263-268