South Asia

Birthweight and feeding practices are associated with child growth outcomes in South Asia

Publication Type

Although there has been a focus on preventing stunting over the past decade, wasting has received less policy and programmatic attention. Recent national surveys from six South Asian countries were pooled to generate a dataset of 62,509 children aged 0 to 59 months to explore associations between low birthweight (LBW) and suboptimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices with child wasting, severe wasting, and the co‐occurrence of wasting and stunting. Logistic regression models accounted for the surveys' clustered designs and adjusted for a potential confounding factors.

Factors associated with wasting among children under five years old in South Asia: Implications for action

Publication Type

South Asia continues to carry the greatest share and number of wasted children worldwide. Understanding the determinants of wasting is important as policymakers renew efforts to tackle this persistent public health and development problem. Using data from national surveys in Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan, this analysis explores factors associated with wasting among children aged 0 to 59 months (n = 252,797).