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205072

Factors Affecting Nutritional Status of Infants Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Suez, Egypt

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Background: Child malnutrition is one of the public health problems in Egypt. It might be affected by the political and economic transition occurring in Egypt and the Middle East. Objective(s): Assessment of the nutritional status and related factors among infants attending urban and rural primary health care (PHC) centers in Suez Governorate. Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on 333 mother-infant pairs attending vaccination sessions in PHC centers in Suez Governorate. Participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire for assessment of socio-demographic characteristics, feeding and weaning. In addition, weight and length were measured. Whenever affordable, a blood sample for hemoglobin estimation was taken from above one-year infants. Results: Stunting was detected among 12.3% of infants, underweight among 12.9% and wasting among 9.3%. Infants with normal anthropometric measurements presented 77.2% of the sample. Being a female, with no history of sickness in the last two weeks were found to be predictors of normal nutritional status. Anemia was detected among 75.0% of examined infants (71.4% in urban and 78.2% in rural areas). Conclusion: Assessment of the nutritional status of infants attending vaccination sessions in urban and rural health centers in Suez Governorate revealed that 28.2% are suffering from one or more form of protein energy malnutrition (PEM). Three quarters of examined infants suffered from anemia. These high levels of malnutrition among infants attending PHC services represent missed opportunities to implement health promotion and preventive activities in association with vaccination sessions.

DOI

10.21608/jhiph.2021.205072

Keywords

child nutritional disorders, Malnutrition, Middle East, public health

Authors

First Name

Laila

Last Name

Kamel

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health & Community Medicine, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt

Email

drlailakamel@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Marwa

Last Name

Hassan

MiddleName

A.

Affiliation

Fellow of Public Health & Community Medicine Department, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt

Email

mahiha1990@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ghada

Last Name

Radwan

MiddleName

N.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health & Community Medicine, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Hend

Last Name

Sabry

MiddleName

A.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health & Community Medicine, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt

Email

hendalysabry@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

51

Article Issue

3

Related Issue

29898

Issue Date

2021-12-01

Receive Date

2021-11-16

Publish Date

2021-12-01

Page Start

128

Page End

135

Print ISSN

2357-0601

Online ISSN

2357-061X

Link

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/article_205072.html

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https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=205072

Order

3

Type

Original Article

Type Code

511

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of High Institute of Public Health

Publication Link

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Factors Affecting Nutritional Status of Infants Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Suez, Egypt

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023