Nutritional surveillance of under 5 ages children of slum in dhaka city, Bangladesh

Background: Uncontrollable rapid growth of urban slum population, accompanied by poor nutritional status is a devastating problem. Objective: To observe the nutritional status among under-5 children in a selected slum of Dhaka city. Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study, conducted among 384 under-5 children who were randomly selected from Public Work Department (PWD) slum of Dhaka city. It was carried out during September-2018 to June-2020. Anthropometric measurements like wasting was determined from weight for height Z-score, stunting was determined from height for age Z-score, underweight was determined from weight for age Z-score and malnutrition was also assessed by Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: According to MUAC classification 32% of children had mild/ moderate malnutrition and 9% had severe malnutrition. According to weight for height Z-score, it was found that 23% of children had mild/moderate wasting and 6% had severe wasting. According to height for age Z-score, it was found that 19% of children were stunted (mild/moderate) and 9% children were severely stunted. According to weight for age Z-score, it was found that 35% of children were underweight (mild/moderate) and 12% children were severely underweight. So 41% under-5 children were found malnourished, wasting was present in 29% children, stunting was found in 28% and underweight was found in 47%. Conclusions: Nutritional status of the under-5 child in PWD slum was below the normal level.