Regional Differences of Child Under-Nutrition in Bangladesh

Despite recent progress shown by some of the indicators of Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh, the nutritional status among all children of the country is not so satisfactory. Growing evidence suggest that there exist regional differences in child under-nutrition in Bangladesh. The present article is an attempt to identify the regional differences of child under-nutrition across six divisions of Bangladesh and to understand some of the determinants of under-nutrition using DHS-2007 Bangladesh dat. This data focus on under-nutrition and some of the determinants related to household, child and mother. A multivariate model was employed to study the regional differences of undernutrition status among children. Across the divisions, a variation of under-nutrition is observed among the children. The prevalence of under-nutrition is statistically significant in poor households. Economics status, mothers’ education, children’s age, number of family members and duration of breastfeeding are important determinants of under-nutrition across divisions. Child under-nutrition in Bangladesh is still a concern for the household with poor economic status. The article calls for improvement of the economic status of the households across divisions keeping in view the nature of inequality in childhood undernutrition in the country and its differential characteristics across the divisions.