Nutritional status, feeding practice and incidence of infectious diseases among children aged 6 to 18 months in northern mountainous Vietnam.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of undernutrition, incidence of infectious diseases and the situation of feeding practices to determine the risk factors for undernutrition among children aged 6 to 18 months in rural Vietnam.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among one hundred eighty-eight mother-child pairs in Bac Giang, Vietnam. Weight and height of the children were measured and referred to data from the WHO/CDC/NCHS. Incidence of infectious diseases was diagnosed based on the WHO Recommended Surveillance Standards. Data on socio-demographic variables and feeding practices were obtained through a structured questionnaire.

Result: The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was 19.7%, 23.4% and 5.3%, respectively. The incidence of diarrhea and acute respiratory infections (ARIs) during the last 14 days of the interview was 12.2% and 20.2%, respectively. Although 99% of the children were breastfed, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 4 mo was 21.3%. Non-exclusive breastfeeding in the first 4 month (OR 3.95, p=0.025) and low birth weight (OR 4.38, p=0.009) were associated with underweight in the children, while incidence of infectious disease was not (OR 1.16, p=0.734).

Conclusion: Undernutrition is highly prevalent in the study site and non-exclusive breast feeding is one of the risk factors.