[Nutrition and health in children from former slave communities (quilombos) in the state of Alagoas, Brazil].

Objective: To describe the nutrition and health status of children aged 6 to 59 months from 39 former slave communities in the state of Alagoas.

Methods: Data on anthropometric, demographic, socioeconomic, and health variables were collected for this cross-sectional study. Deficits in weight-for-age (WFA), weight-for-height (WFH), and height-for-age (HFA) were defined as a Z score < -2. Overweight was defined as a Z score > 2 for WFH. The 2006 World Health Organization growth standards were used as reference. Anemia was diagnosed based on hemoglobin levels (HemoCue) < 11 g/dL.

Results: We assessed 973 children (50.4% boys). Most families (60.8%) belonged to social class E (lowest), and most (76.0%) were assisted by the federal welfare program Bolsa Família. Heads of family had < 4 years of schooling (75.9%), and more than 5 people lived in the house in 57.1% of the households. The prevalence of WFA, WFH, and HFA (stunting) deficits and overweight was, respectively, 3.4, 2.0, 11.5, and 7.1%. Anemia was diagnosed in 52.7% of the children, without differences between the stunting and overweight groups (P = 0.43).

Conclusions: Stunting, an indicator of chronic malnutrition, was the most prevalent anthropometric deviation, followed by overweight, despite the disadvantaged socioeconomic profile. Anemia was a severe problem, affecting children with both stunting and overweight. Taken together, these findings suggest that the human right to adequate food is not guaranteed for the children from former slave communities from Alagoas. Therefore, the government should take the necessary measures to revert this situation.