Presenter: Dr. B. Nduna-Chansa

Good nutrition is essential for healthy and active lives and has direct bearing on intellectual capacity

This impacts positively on social and economic development of a country.

Malnutrition is a serious public health problem in Zambia

Both acute and chronic Protein Energy Malnutrition exists in high proportions in both rural and urban areas

There are three main levels of malnutrition causality:

1. Immediate causes such as low food intake and the high disease burden

2.Underlying causes of inadequate food security, insufficient maternal and child care and poor health, environmental and sanitary conditions

3. Socio-economic and cultural factors in society

The nutritional status of children is calculated using new growth standards published by WHO in 2006.

These were generated using data collected in the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (WHO, 2006).

They use three anthropometric indices to assess nutritional status: height-for-age, weight-for-height, and weight-for-age

Each of these indices provides different information about growth and body composition

An indicator of linear growth retardation and cumulative growth deficits.

Children whose height-for-age Z-score is <-2 SD are considered short for their age (stunted) and are chronically malnourished.

Children who are <-3 SD are considered severely stunted.

45% of children under five (18% less than 6 months) are stunted and 21% are severely stunted.

Male children (48%) are more likely to be stunted than female children (42%).

44% of children who are average or larger at birth are stunted compared with 63% of children who are very small at birth.

Stunting is slightly higher among children who are less than 24 months apart than among first born children or those with a larger birth interval.

More rural children are stunted (48%) than urban children (39%).

At the provincial level, stunting is highest in Luapula province (56%) and lowest in Western and Southern provinces (36% each).

Education and wealth are both inversely related to stunting levels.

Stunting decreases with increasing levels of mother’s education.

Measures body mass in relation to body height or length and describes current nutritional status.

Children whose Z-scores are <-2 SD are considered thin (wasted) and are acutely malnourished.

Children whose weight-for-height is <-3 SD are considered severely wasted

5% of children under five are wasted. Wasting varies greatly by age and peaks

among children aged 9-11 months (12%). Boys (6%) are slightly more likely to be

wasted than girls (5%). Children reported to be very small at birth

are more likely to be wasted (9%) than those reported to be of average size or larger (5%).

Wasting among children born to thin mothers (BMI <18.5) is higher than for children born to normal mothers (BMI 18.5-24.9) and overweight/obese mothers (BMI ≥25).

There is slight difference in wasting between urban (4%) and rural children (6%).

Education is inversely related to wasting.

Western, North-Western, Northern, Luapula, and Central provinces reported wasting levels that are above the national average (5%).

Children born to mothers in highest wealth quintile are less likely to be wasted (4%) than those in the lowest wealth quintile (6%).

It must be noted that 8% of children in Zambia are overweight, with the Z-scores >+2 SD.

A composite index of height-for-age and weight-for-height.

It takes into account both acute and chronic malnutrition.

Children whose weight-for-age is <-2 SD are classified as underweight.

Children whose weight-for-age is <-3 SD are considered severely underweight.

The prevalence of underweight children nationally is 15%, and the prevalence of severely underweight children is 3%.

The percentage of children underweight doubles from 7% among children under age 6 months to 15% among children aged 9-11 months.

As with the other two nutritional indicators, male children are more likely to be underweight (17%) than female children (13%), and smaller size at birth is associated with lower weight-for-age.

Children born to thin or underweight mothers (BMI <18.5) are more likely to be underweight than those born to normal mothers with a BMI 18.5-24.9 (23% versus 15%)

The proportion of underweight children is higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

Children in Lusaka are less likely to be underweight (10%), than in the North-Western province (20%).

The proportion of underweight children decreases with increases in mother’s level of education.

Similarly under nutrition is higher among children in the lowest three wealth quintiles

Indicator Percentage (%) Rating

Low birth Weight -

Underweight 23-27 High (serious)

Severe Wasting 4-7 Medium

Stunting 53 Very High (Critical)

ZDHS 2007 NFNP