Abstract:
The real wealth of a nation is its people.
The well-being of a nation is decided by the nutritional
status of the people. Yet, one of the main concerns, the
developing world faces is malnutrition. The prevalence
of malnutrition is high among the estate children in Sri
Lanka, therefore it is very much important to study the
factors of malnutrition in the estate sector in order to
initiate appropriate effective strategies to minimize the
malnutrition status of children. Thus, this study was designed
to determine the factors influencing the nutritional status
of primary children in the estate sector with reference to
the Nuwara Eliya Medical Officer Area (MOH). As the
target population, estate primary school children of the
Nuwara Eliya MOH were considered. A sample of 125
estate school children was selected by using the simple
random sampling method. Interviews, direct observations
and a structured questionnaire were used to collect data.
Data were presented by using descriptive statistical tools.
Binary logistic regression models were applied to identify
the factors associated with nutritional status. 40.45%,
38.57% and 25.7% of school children were suffering from
underweight, stunting and wasting respectively. Gender,
low birth weight, parent’s occupation, childhood diseases,
food habits and parent’s awareness significantly influence
the underweight. Gender, father’s height, family income
and food habits significantly influence the stunting. Low
birth weight, father’s education and occupation, father’s
BMI, mother’s occupation, water source, childhood
diseases, maternity diseases, healthy behavior, school
influence and parent’s awareness significantly influence
the wasting. The only factor that affects all the three
nutritional status is the age. The Government need to focus
its attention more on this regard and should initiate more
workshops and programs to make the parents aware of
the health of the children. Schools can take the initiation
and launch programs.
