Impact of Socioeconomic Inequalities on Child Malnutrition | Journal of Pharmaceutical Research Inte

The mother's socioeconomic position and education are crucial factors in giving better health care and nutrition to her children. To the best of our knowledge, Pakistan's majority population is middle-class, and identifying malnutrition in our settings may aid policymakers in developing specific parameters to give better nutrition to children under the age of five. The current study's goals were to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and its relationship to various socioeconomic statuses in a tertiary care hospital in Hyderabad.

Study Design: Cross sectional.

Place and Duration of Study: Study was performed at nutritional stabilization center of pediatric department of tertiary care hospital Hyderabad during the month of July 2019 to January 2020.

Methodology: Preformed proforma was designed to record the data of participants. Hospital protocols using WHO guidelines (17) i.e. 10 steps for in-patient care of severe malnutrition were started & followed with feeding F-75 & F-100. Data was analyzed on SPSS-20.

Results: The minimum age recorded was 8 months and maximum was found to be 45 months (3 years 9 months). 72% were females and 70% of participants had Weight to height ratio below normal. Prevalence of severe acute malnutrition was found to be 35.2%. After admission and management protocols 91.6% were recovered however, mortality was observed in 8.9% participants. Chi square analysis of all socioeconomic groups showed highly significant results with severe acute malnutrition (p-value= 0.001).

Conclusion: The current study found a 35.2 percent prevalence of SAM in the Pakistani population, with the majority of those in the lower socioeconomic class.

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