The effects of nutritional support baskets on growth parameters of under five years old children with malnutrition and low socio-economic status

Abstract

Background and objectives Although malnutrition is globally widespread among children, there is no consensus on the most effective intervention for improving a child's growth. The present study is designed to investigate the effects of nutritional support basketson growth indices of malnourished children. Methods This is a field trial conducted on 3667 malnourished children (0–60 months) for 9months, between 2017 and 2018, in Fars province of Iran. Weight-for-age, height-for-age, weight-for-height and body mass index-for age indices were assessed before and after the intervention with nutritional support baskets, which contains 600 kcal/day. Results The baseline prevalence of moderate/severeunderweight, stunting and wasting were 31.5%, 33.3% and 28.9%, respectively. After the intervention, the prevalence non-significantly reduced to 25.5%, 31.7% and 20.35%, respectively (p > 0.05). The intervention is associated with a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight and wasting in 0–23 months children, and a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in 24–60 months children. Furthermore, the intervention is associated with a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in girls, and a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight and wasting in boys. Conclusions Nutrition support was effective in improving malnutrition indices of children; however, the results were non-significant. Further studies with longer period and control group areneeded to support the effectiveness of nutrition support in children.