ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DRINKING WATER SOURCES AND DIARRHEA WITH ... consumption patterns, illness, lack of sanitation, .... Alexandria, Egypt.
Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine 2012, Vol. 12(1): 45-48
ORIGINAL ARTICLE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DRINKING WATER SOURCES AND DIARRHEA WITH MALNUTRITION AMONG KINDERGARTEN'S CHILDREN IN BAGHDAD CITY, IRAQ Hasanain FG, Jamsiah M, Zaleha MI, Azmi MTamil, Mohammed AA Department of Community Health, UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT Malnutrition is associated with childhood diseases such as diarrhea or other severe illness. Children who suffer from repeated episodes of diarrhea are more likely to suffer from malnutrition. In addition, the source of drinking water is a very important factor affecting the nutritional status. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of malnutrition condition among children aged 3 to 5 years old and the factors associated with it. A cross sectional study using simple random sampling was conducted among 220 children aged 3 to 5 years old from four kindergartens in Baghdad city, Iraq. Nutritional assessment was carried out using the indicator weight-for-age z-score based on World Health Organization cut off points. Acute malnutrition was found in 18.2 % of the respondents. In this study 65 % of the respondents used tap water to drink as compared to 35 % who used sterilized bottles as source of drinking water. The environmental factors mainly the source of drinking water was significantly associated with child nutritional status (p=0.034). The prevalence of diarrhea and admissions to the hospital due to diarrhea were also significantly associated with malnutrition (p < 0.01, p
