International Symposium on Understanding the Double Burden of Malnutrition for Effective Interventions

Trends Of Double Burden Malnutrition Among Under Five Children In Malaysia: Findings From A National Landscape Analysis

Not scheduled

15m

Boardroom A (IAEA, Vienna)

Poster Epidemiology Poster Session 7

Speakers

Azli Baharudin (Institute for Public Health, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia)Dr Jessica Blankenship (UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office)

Description

The double burden of malnutrition among children under five is still one of the major global nutrition problems. Malnutrition is described as the imbalance of nutrients in the body resulting in measurable adverse effects on body composition, function and clinical outcomes. Therefore, a landscape analysis was conducted to explain the trends of malnutrition among children under five years in Malaysia. Data was obtained from National Health and Morbidity Surveys (NHMS) 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2016. Analysis of malnutrition trends among children under five was performed using Zeta test analysis. NHMS surveys conducted in 2006, 2011 and 2015 employed two-stage stratified cluster sampling design while the NHMS 2016 used birth registrations from the National Registration Department as the sampling frame to select households with children under five. Based on WHO 2007 Classification, malnutrition was determined by the indicators of Z-score for weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-height (WHZ) and BMI-for-age. The findings showed that the national prevalence of underweight increased significantly from 12.7% (2006) to 14.4% (2016), remaining a problem of medium public health significance based on the WHO cut-off while the prevalence of stunting has become a problem of borderline low public health significance, increasing from 17.5% in 2006 to 20.5% in 2016. However, the prevalence of wasting significantly reduced from 13.2% to 11.9% in the same time period although it still remained as a serious public health significance. As for the prevalence of overweight, there was only a slight increase from 3.4% in 2006 to 3.8% in 2016. In conclusion, in the past decade, there is an increase on the prevalence of chronic undernutrition and overweight in Malaysia while there is a reduction on the prevalence of acute undernutrition. Therefore, a concerted multi-pronged strategy to address an urgent need to combat the double burden of malnutrition in the country is warranted. Strengthening and mobilisation of the key stakeholders in the country via multi and trans-sectoral approach to address double burden of malnutrition especially among under five children are crucial.