Prevalence of Malnutrition and Its Risk Factors among Under-Five Children: A Case Study in the Second Congressional District of Camarines Norte, Philippines

Leni M. Malabanan; Eden C. Miguel

doi:10.56741/jphs.v4i01.813

Authors

Leni M. Malabanan
lenimalabanan@yahoo.com
Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges
Eden C. Miguel Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges

Keywords:

Malnutrition, Prevalence, Risk Factors, Under-five Children

Abstract

Malnutrition among children under five remains a critical public health concern, impacting growth, development, and overall well-being. This retrospective cohort study was conducted to thoroughly examine the prevalence of malnutrition and its associated risk factors among children under five in the Second Congressional District of Camarines Norte. Data collection involved reviewing documents, specifically the records of 340 under-five children obtained from the Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS). These records were assessed using a guide checklist, with the data analyzed through percentage technique, prevalence rates, odds ratios, and multivariate regression analysis. Results revealed a predominance of male children, most aged 24-35 months, with parents largely employed, high school graduates, and earning household incomes of Php 5,000–10,000 per month. Mild to moderate household food insecurity was also noted, necessitating attention to prevent long-term health impacts. Low household income strongly predicted underweight status, while stunting was significantly associated with low maternal education and maternal unemployment. However, none of these factors were significant predictors of wasting. Furthermore, no significant correlation was found between malnutrition indicators (underweight, stunting, wasting) and healthcare service utilization, including routine check-ups, growth monitoring, and nutrition counseling. The study underscores the importance of targeted nutritional interventions addressing stunting and iron deficiency, coupled with strategies to improve maternal education and employment. A proposed plan has been developed to enhance the nutritional status of under-five children and reduce malnutrition prevalence through comprehensive, community-focused approaches.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Leni M. Malabanan, Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges

is a Registered Nurse, a Master of Arts in Nursing and a graduate of Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Education in 2014 at St. Paul University Manila and graduated Cumlaude. Presently, she is the Dean of the Graduate School of Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges, Nabua, Camarines Sur. She handles both the Undergraduate and Graduate Studies handling Maternal and Child Health Nursing and Community Health Nursing as her field of expertise. Dr. Malabanan was the Dean of the College of Health Sciences (June 2022- August 2024), Program Chair of the Master of Arts in Nursing(2020-2024), and former GAD Director of CSPC(2015-2020). At present, she is an Associate Professor 4 by academic Rank and also, a Research and Extension Advocate. (email: lenimalabanan@yahoo.com).

Eden C. Miguel, Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges

earned her Bachelor's Degree in Accountancy from the Philippine School of Business Administration-Manila. Furthermore, in 2010, she enrolled in Mabini Colleges of Daet, Camarines Norte for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, in a ladderized curriculum. After a year she received the National Certificate II (NC II) in Caregiving, continued her studies, and got her Diploma in Midwifery after two years and passed the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) - Midwifery Licensure Examination. Continuing her education in nursing at the same institution, she graduated and received her college degree under Bachelor of Science in Nursing – Ladderized Curriculum in 2014 and her undergraduate thesis on the Implementation of Basic Emergency Obstetric Care in San Vicente, Camarines Norte. In the same year after graduation, she took and passed the Nursing Licensure Examination. Presently, she is a Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife by profession. (email: hermanas1278@gmail.com).

References

United Nations, "Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development," United Nations, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda.

UNICEF, "UNICEF nutrition strategy 2020–2030: Nutrition for every child," United Nations Children’s Fund, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.unicef.org/reports/nutrition-strategy-2020-2030.

WHO, "Malnutrition," WHO Response, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.who.int/news-room/factsheets/detail/malnutrition?gad_source=1&gclid=cjwkcaia9vs6bha9eiwajpnxwzrn7o9o2qvmkps9kl_bqvmndgv11kkxucohucekklcwxes9hh5ufrocyhiqavd_bwe#.

World Bank, "Undernutrition in the Philippines Scale, Scope, and Opportunities for Nutrition Policy and Programming," PH-Undernutrition-Report-Executive-Summary, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://thedocs.worldbank.org.

National Nutrition Council (NNC), "Operation Timbang Plus Results 2023," Department of Health, Republic of the Philippines, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.nnc.gov.ph/related-statistics/operation-timbang.

D. Ahmad, M. Afzal, and A. Imtiaz, "Effect of socioeconomic factors on malnutrition among children in Pakistan," Future Business Journal, vol. 6, no. 1, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-020-00032-x. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-020-00032-x

F. Davenport, K. Grace, C. Funk, and S. Shukla, "Child health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: A comparison of changes in climate and socio-economic factors," Global Environmental Change, vol. 46, pp. 72–87, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.04.009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.04.009

M. B. Gentner and M. Leppert, "Environmental influences on health and development: nutrition, substance exposure, and adverse childhood experiences," Dev. Med. Child Neurol., vol. 61, no. 9, pp. 1008–1014, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.14149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.14149

M. Capanzana, G. Demombynes, and P. Gubbins, "Why are so many children stunted in the Philippines?," World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-9294. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-9294

S. Basu and B. Banerjee, "Impact of environmental factors on the mental health of children and adolescents: A systematic review," Child. Youth Serv. Rev., vol. 119, p. 105515, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105515. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105515

S. Bazzazian, G. Ozgoli, H. Riazi, Z. Mahmoodi, M. Vafa, and M. Nasiri, "The relationship between social determinants of health and postpartum weight retention based on the World Health Organization model: path analysis," BMC Public Health, vol. 23, no. 1, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15207-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15207-8

T. Munir, "Socio-Economic Risk Profiling of Child Nutrition Status: Evidence from the Most Populous Province of Pakistan," Research Square, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2545610/v1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2545610/v1

L. R. D. De Menezes, R. C. V. E. Souza, P. C. Cardoso, and R. C. V. E. Souza, "Factors Associated with Dietary Patterns of Schoolchildren: A Systematic Review," Nutrients, vol. 15, no. 11, p. 2450, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15112450. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15112450

A. Martín-Rodríguez et al., "Infancy Dietary Patterns, Development, and Health: An Extensive Narrative Review," Children (Basel), vol. 9, no. 7, p. 1072, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/children9071072. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/children9071072

D. Tang, T. Bu, Y. Liu, and X. Dong, "The impact of mothers’ dietary patterns on children’s nutritional status in China," Am. J. Health Behav., vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 719–731, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.5993/ajhb.44.5.14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.44.5.14

E. Authur, "Effect of household socio-economic factors on child nutritional status In Ghana, Kenya and Zambia," 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340940502.

C. Gressies, P. Tribolet, and P. Schuetz, "Nutrition issues in the general medical ward patient: From general screening to specific diagnosis and individualized treatment," J. Parenter. Enteral Nutr., vol. 47, S1, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/jpen.2423. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jpen.2423

Y. S. Lee, "Analysis of Dietary Patterns, Intake, Output Performance, and Blood Lactate Concentration According to Athlete Career: A Study on Elite Korean Wrestlers," Int. J. Appl. Sports Sci., vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 176–185, 2021.

J. M. V. Manrique, G. Masangkay, and N. A. J. Agustin, "A silent crisis: The impact of public health expenditure on malnutrition prevalence in children aged below five in the Philippines," J. Econ. Financ. Account. Stud., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 104–117, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.32996/jefas.2022.4.1.7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32996/jefas.2022.4.1.7

M. T. Hidayat, P. Muljono, A. Saleh, and S. Maarif, "Communication strategy in implementing health belief model (HBM) at Bali Province in dealing with COVID-19," Int. J. Health Sci., vol. 6, S4, pp. 5436–5449, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v6ns4.10862. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v6nS4.10862

B. Haryanto, "Indonesia: country report on children’s environmental health," Rev. Environ. Health, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 41–48, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2019-0088. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2019-0088

H. Keller et al., "Multidisciplinary Nutrition Care: Benefitting Patients with Malnutrition Across Healthcare Sectors," in Perspectives in Nursing Management and Care for Older Adults, (S.l.): (s.n.), 2021, pp. 177–188. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63892-4_13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63892-4_13

A. F. Valladares et al., "How a Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative Furthers Malnutrition Measurement and Care: Results from a Hospital Learning Collaborative," J. Parenter. Enteral Nutr., vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 366–371, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/jpen.1833. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jpen.1833

J. Wills-Gallagher et al., "Implementation of malnutrition quality improvement reveals opportunities for better nutrition care delivery for hospitalized patients," J. Parenter. Enteral Nutr., vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 243–248, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/jpen.2086. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jpen.2086

N. V. Lam et al., "High prevalence and burden of adult malnutrition at a tertiary hospital: an opportunity to use nutrition-focused care to improve outcomes," Clin. Nutr. Open Sci., vol. 40, pp. 79–88, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutos.2021.11.003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutos.2021.11.003

N. A. K. Amali et al., "Exploring learning environment through Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory," Int. J. Acad. Res. Prog. Educ. Dev., vol. 12, no. 2, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarped/v12-i2/16516. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v12-i2/16516

N. Bayramova, "Affection of Pollution of Environment and Climatic Changes to the Child’s Health," Turk. Arch. Pediatr., pp. 356–357, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.5152/turkarchpediatr.2023.231206. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5152/TurkArchPediatr.2023.231206

M. Zhang et al., "Prevalence of malnutrition and associated factors among children aged 6–24 months under poverty alleviation policy in Shanxi province, China: A cross-sectional study," 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2049080122010779. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104317

M. Tedla et al., "Prevalence and associated factors of malnutrition among under-five children living in slum areas of Bahir Dar Town, Ethiopia," Pan Afr. Med. J., vol. 47, p. 176, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/article/47/176/full/.

P. Celhay, S. Martínez, and C. Vidal, "Measuring socioeconomic gaps in nutrition and early child development in Bolivia," Int. J. Equity Health, vol. 19, no. 1, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01197-1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01197-1