Banerjee Sreeparna, Roy Shimul, Pal Manoranjan, Hossain Md Golam, Bharati Premananda
Department of Anthropology, West Bengal State University, Berunanpukuria, PO-Malikapur, Barasat, West Bengal, 700126, India.
Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, 721102, India.
BMC Nutr. 2021 Dec 2;7(1):77. doi: 10.1186/s40795-021-00484-6.
The nutritional and immunization status of children can play an important role in determining their future health status of a particular country. The aim of the present study is to investigate the nutritional and immunization status of under-five children in India and Bangladesh, and to find the difference in the status between these two countries.
We have used the National Family Health Survey data, 2015-2016 of India and Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey, 2017-2018 datasets. The sample sizes are 222,418, among them 8759 and 8759 children for India and Bangladesh respectively. The nutritional status of under-five children is measured by standard anthropometric indicators of height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ). Regarding child immunization status, only BCG, DPT, polio and measles vaccinations are considered for the present study. Multiple binary logistic model has been used for analysing the data.
This study reveals that the prevalence of stunting and underweight of under-five children in India are higher than Bangladeshi children. Secondary and higher educated mothers are more likely of having normal HAZ and WAZ children than up to primary educated mothers for both countries. Chances of having normal HAZ and WAZ are higher among non-poor category for both countries. The present study also shows that immunization status of Bangladeshi children is better than Indian children except measles. Religion of mother also shows influence on immunization status of children in India whereas Bangladesh shows no significant results regarding religion. Mother's educational attainment and wealth index show influence on immunization status among children for both countries.
The study concludes that a remarkable number of under-five children are suffering from under nutrition for both countries, however Bangladeshi children have better nutritional and immunization status compared to Indian children. Higher wealth index, better educational attainment and lower unemployment of Bangladeshi mothers may be the causes for better nutritional and immunization status of children. Mother's socio-economic factors have significant impact on determining the child's health status. Our findings can help to government of Indian and Bangladesh for taking health policy to improve under-five children nutritional and immunization status.
儿童的营养和免疫状况在决定一个特定国家儿童未来的健康状况方面可能发挥重要作用。本研究的目的是调查印度和孟加拉国五岁以下儿童的营养和免疫状况，并找出这两个国家在该状况上的差异。
我们使用了印度2015 - 2016年全国家庭健康调查数据以及孟加拉国2017 - 2018年人口与健康调查数据集。样本量为222,418，其中印度和孟加拉国的儿童分别为8759名。五岁以下儿童的营养状况通过年龄别身高（HAZ）和年龄别体重（WAZ）等标准人体测量指标来衡量。关于儿童免疫状况，本研究仅考虑卡介苗、百白破疫苗、脊髓灰质炎疫苗和麻疹疫苗接种情况。采用多元二元逻辑模型对数据进行分析。
本研究表明，印度五岁以下儿童发育迟缓及体重不足的患病率高于孟加拉国儿童。在这两个国家，受过中等及高等教育的母亲所生的儿童，其HAZ和WAZ正常的可能性高于小学及以下学历的母亲所生的儿童。在这两个国家，非贫困家庭的儿童HAZ和WAZ正常的几率更高。本研究还表明，除麻疹外，孟加拉国儿童的免疫状况优于印度儿童。母亲的宗教信仰也对印度儿童的免疫状况有影响，而孟加拉国在宗教信仰方面未显示出显著结果。母亲的教育程度和财富指数对这两个国家儿童的免疫状况均有影响。
该研究得出结论，两个国家都有相当数量的五岁以下儿童营养不良，然而与印度儿童相比，孟加拉国儿童的营养和免疫状况更好。孟加拉国母亲较高的财富指数、更好的教育程度和较低的失业率可能是儿童营养和免疫状况更好的原因。母亲的社会经济因素对决定儿童的健康状况有重大影响。我们的研究结果有助于印度和孟加拉国政府制定卫生政策，以改善五岁以下儿童的营养和免疫状况。
