Nutritional Status Assessment of Internally Displaced Children in “Dream City”- Iraq

Malnutrition is one of the major public health challenges in developing countries especially those experiencing security instability. Not much is known of the nutritional status of displaced children in Iraq. The objective of this study was to assess the nutritional status of internally displaced children in Dream city-Salaheddin-Iraq to provide a validated baseline information for further humanitarian responses to help those children. The “Dream city” in Salaheddin governorate was chosen for it represents a large collection of displaced families. A total of 788 children (less than 5 years) was surveyed. Height, weight and mid-upper arm circumference were measured. Under-nutrition was found in 19.2% of them according to body mass index, and 19.5% when using mid-upper arm circumference index. The prevalence of wasting was 14.6% and severe wasting 6.9%. There was a significant association between under-nutrition and number of the children in the family, age of the child, and father’s and mother’s education. A noticeable percentage of children were hardly consuming meat, eggs or fruits (only once or none per week). About one child in every five displaced children is undernourished. The percentiles of different anthropometric measurements for height, weight, body mass index, and mid upper arm circumference for those children were below the standard measurements reported by WHO and NCHS growth charts for the corresponding age.