Does parental migration have any impact on nutritional disorders among left-behind children in Bangladesh?

Abstract

ObjectiveRates of migration have increased substantially in recent years and so has the number of left-behind children (LBC). We investigated the impact of parental migration on nutritional disorders of LBC in Bangladesh.DesignWe analysed data from the nationally representative cross-sectional Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2012–2013. Child stunting, wasting and underweight were used as measures of nutritional disorders. Descriptive statistics were used to describe characteristics of the respondents and to compare nutritional outcomes based on status of parental migration. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between parental migration and child nutritional disorders.SettingBangladesh.ParticipantsData of 23 402 children (aged <5 years), their parents and households.ResultsIn the unadjusted models, parental migration was found significantly protective for stunting, wasting and underweight – both separately and jointly. After potential confounders were controlled for, no difference was found between LBC and non-LBC in any of these three nutritional outcome measures. Household wealth status and maternal educational status were found to significantly influence the nutritional development of the children.ConclusionsAt the population level there is no negative impact of parental migration on stunting, wasting and underweight of LBC in Bangladesh. Remittance from parental migration might enhance affordability of better foods, health care and supplies for a cleaner environment. This affordability is crucial for the poorest section of the society.

The association between parental migration and early childhood nutrition of left-behind children in rural China

“…The present study broadly supports the previous findings that parental migration was not significantly detrimental to child nutrition [13,16,22,36] and even confirm the benefits of paternal migration on early childhood nutrition of rural children [13,37,38], despite contrary results found in other studies [5,18,39]. A decreasing difference in early childhood nutrition between children with various parental migration statuses was shown in recent years, and in the survey in 2016, no significant differences in risks of stunting, underweight, and wasting were detected between them.…”

“…According to rough interviews with local coordinators, the reasons why the caregivers with their children did not participate in the surveys probably include being busy with household tasks, lack of interest or being not at home, etc. Second, we failed to measure some important factors that may moderate the effects of parental migration on the health of left-behind children, such as the number of siblings, migration duration, the age of children at the time of the first separation from migrant parents, migrant-caregiver communication, and remittances from migrants [36,48,[56][57][58]. Third, the interventions of the early childhood development program may confound the analysis of the 2016 survey data, but we controlled for related variables in the regression analyses.…”

Impact of Parental Migration on Health of Left Behind Children

“…Health is one of the society's most important values and has been prioritized as one of the sustainable development goals (United Nations [UN], (2016). It is also the most precious values in life since it is related to the overall health of a society and nation (Islam, Khan, & Mondal, 2019). Tang, Choi, Deng, Bian, and Hu (2019) believe health as the symbol of a happy and satiated life.…”

“…Good health relies on income, diet habit, lifestyles and emotional aspects (Gao et al, 2010). One who has better income can invest in better diet and nutritious food to maintain good health (Gao et al, 2010;Islam et al, 2019).…”

“…They are found to be affected by somatic complaints, schizophrenia and depression (Iqbal et al, 2014;Qu et al, 2018). Children living with father rather than mother demonstrates such tendencies in Bangladesh (Islam et al, 2019).…”