Factors Associated with Stunting among Children Under Five Years of Age in Pakistan: Evidence from PDHS 2012-13.

Objective: The main objective of this research study was to drawn the association of different factors towards stunting in under five years of age children in Pakistan. Methods: The survey was conducted in a total of 498 areas. Data was collected by using a stratiA¯Â¬Âed two-stage cluster national sample across 14,000 households (6,944 in urban areas and 7,056 in rural areas). For data collection a representative sample of households was taken from different provinces of Pakistan (Islamabad and Gilgit Baltistan) including 12,943 household with 13,557 women aged between 15-49 years. Results: This study had showed that 31.4% population of less than five years of age is suffering from stunning in Pakistan. In regional wise distribution stunting was much higher in Baluchistan as compare to other regions, i.e., 43%. While Islamabad (ICT) has the lowest number of stunted children, i.e., 18.5%. Conclusion: This study exposed that the Region, Access to information, Parents Education, economic status has substantial relationship with malnutrition. While the Number of children in family and taking another type of milk rather than mother feed in first 3 days has no significant relationship towards stunting among children less than 5 years of age.