Neupane, Sumanta

Abstract

Maternal depression has been associated with adverse child growth and development; less is known about its relation to children's diet. In a cross-sectional study embedded at endline of a longitudinal community development intervention, mothers of 629 children (age 23–66 months) in rural Nepal responded to household and children's diet questionnaires and were screened for depression. Child anthropometry and development (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) were assessed.

Abstract

Background:

The 2015 earthquake in Nepal caused massive damages and triggered relief activities to minimize human suffering. The post-earthquake nutrition and food security situation in the hardest hit areas remains uncertain.

Methods:

Abstract

Background

Optimal breastfeeding practices, reflected by early initiation and feeding of colostrum, avoidance of prelacteal feeds, and continued exclusivity or predominance of breastfeeding, are critical for assuring proper infant nutrition, growth and development.

The objective of this study is to compare the impact on child diet and growth of a multisectoral community intervention v. nutrition education and livestock management training alone.

Preschool undernutrition remains a burden in Nepal. This paper reports results of surveys in 2013 and 2014, examining patterns of child nutritional status across the country, associations with household food insecurity and antecedent comparative national data for subsequent evaluations of nutritional status following the earthquake in Nepal in 2015.

Despite marked improvement in child undernutrition, especially stunting, in Nepal over the past decade, stunting prevalence remains high at 41% thus generating an urgent need to understand factors associated with childhood stunting.

The earthquake that hit Nepal in April, 2015, caused considerable structural damage and loss of life but little is known about the longer term impacts of the earthquake on nutritional status of preschool children and related risk factors. This analysis provides the first systematic national estimate of the nutritional situation in Nepal following the earthquake.

Despite substantial reductions in recent years in Nepal, stunting prevalence in children younger than 5 years remains high and represents a leading public health concern. To identify factors contributing to the stunting burden, we report multilevel risk factors associated with stunting in 4,853 children aged 6–59 months in a nationally and agroecologically representative random sample from the first year of the Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture, and Nutrition Community Studies, a community‐based observational, mixed‐panel study.

This presentation was delivered by Sudeep Shrestha in November?2015 at the International Conference on Maternal and Child Nutrition in Sri Lanka.