Enliven: Journal of Dietetics Research and Nutrition

The Nutritional Indices Patterns of Children under 5 years Old in Sana'a City, Capital of Yemen
Author(s): Nabila Ali Ahmad Alsonini, and Muhammed Saleh Abdullah Masood

The aim of this study is to determine the Nutritional indicators by Districts and age groups of children in Sana’a City, Capital of Yemen. A sample of study was 1534 children aged under 5 years that was taken from the raw data of Household Budget Survey (HBS) 2005/2006 in Yemen. Height-for-age z score (HAZ), Weight-for-height z score (WHZ), and Weight-for-age z score (WAZ) indicators were used to measure the nutritional status of children. The prevalence of stunting was about 45.7%, and of them, 22.2% were severely stunting, 33.2% of children were considered as severely and moderately underweight, while 15.1% of children had wasting, of which 9.6% had severely wasting in Sana’a City.

The results of chi-square and analysis of variance revealed that highly significant stunting among children in Sanhan District when compared to others (P < 0.01), while risk of wasting among Snahan’s children was likely to be lower significant as compared to other districts. In addition, risk of wasting and underweight among children of Al-sabeen District was likely to be lower significant as compared to other districts. Risk of stunted significantly was higher more in old children (12 - 59) compared to youngest (0 - 11) (P < 0.01), underweight was more highly significant prevalent among (36 - 59) months old children, while risk of severe and moderate wasting were higher among (0 - 11) months youngest children as compared to (24 - 35) months old children (P < 0.01).