A Statistical Study on Nutrition of Sri Lankan Children under 5 Years of Age

Abstract

In this study, nutritional status of children under five years of age have been investigated based on data collected by the Department of Census and Statistics. Study sample is comprised of 2576 children in the age group 3-59 months in the year 2000. An attempt is made to identify factors related to nutritional status of children. Growth parameters of Sri Lankan child population are compared with the international reference child population recommended by the WHO. In addition the relationship between the weight of a child with his/her age is studied. This model is compared with that of the child health development record issued by Ministry of Health.The study shows the factors such as age, birth weight, gender of the child, mother's educational level and number of children in the family has significant affect on nutritional status of the child. Weights and heights of Sri Lankan children are significantly lower than the weights and heights of international reference child population. However, the weights of Sri Lankan children lie in between lower and upper bound of growth chart of the child health development record issued by the Ministry of health.It was found that issuing a common chart for both male and female children is not suitable since growth parameters are reasonably different for the two sexes.