Nutrition education exposure and nutritional status of selected household members in three agro-ecological locations of Bangladesh

Abstract

A comparative study was conducted in three different agro-ecological locations of
Bangladesh. Among the respondent households 26.7% in Dhaka and Brahmanbaria,
32.6% in Bagerhat were Muslims and rest of the households were Hindu and
Christian. Most of the households that is 17.3% in Dhaka, 8.7% in Brahmanbaria
and 15.3% in Bagerhat were farmers. In terms of occupational sides the most striking
findings was 12% business population are residing in Brahmanbaria. Most o f the
household's (12.7% in Dhaka, 10.7% in Brahmanbaria & 14.6% in Bagerhat)
monthly income were between 1500-3000 taka. Half (50%) o f the respondents of
Dhaka had previous exposure to nutrition education where as in Brahmanbaria two
third and in Bagerhat one third of the respondents had exposure to nutrition
education. Mean per capita calorie intake of the respondent household members was
2157 Kcal where as about 53% children were malnourished according to weight for
age using Z score. Of them, 40% children in Dhaka, 48 % in Brahmanbaria and 72%
in Bagerhat were underweight. Different agro-ecological locations have significant
association with under weight children of 2-5 years.