A Rapid Survey of the Nutritional Status of Under-Five-Year Children in Salmas

One in every five children in developing countries are malnourished, and the poor nutrition is associated with half of all children deaths worldwide. The aim of current study was to assess the nutritional status of less than five-year children in Salmas district, using ENA (Emergency Nutrition Assessment) software. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 902 under-five-year children in urban and rural regions of Salmas district in 2011. The required data were collected by completing the questionnaire and measuring the anthropometric indices. The percentages of underweight, stunting, wasting, overweight and obesity were determined using ENA software. Chi-square test was used for data analysis. In this study, 50.4% (455 children) of children were girls and 83.8% (756 children) and 16.2% (146 children) were normal and malnourished, respectively. Among malnourished children the percentages of underweight, stunting, wasting, overweight and obesity were 14.4% (21 children), 45.2% (66 children), 8.9% (13 children), 24.7% (36 children) and 6.8% (10 children), respectively. Overweight and obesity among boys and in urban areas were more prevalent but these differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Stunting in rural areas was more prevalent and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). The results of this study showed that the stunting which represents chronic malnutrition among children, among both boys and girls was more frequent than underweight and wasting. In addition, the method used in this study was a simple, rapid, and accurate method and it is suggested using it as a convenient tool for other epidemiological studies and crisis in the country.