Socio-economic determinants of vitamin A intake in children under 5 years of age: evidence from Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Vitamin A deficiency, which is a leading health issue worldwide, is estimated to affect approximately 190 million children globally. The most affected areas are Africa and parts of Southeast Asia.

Methods: The present study examined the use of vitamin A supplementation and the association between socio-demographic factors and vitamin A supplementation in children aged less than 5 years from a cross-sectional demographic survey of Pakistan. Odds ratios were used to express the association between the independent and dependent variables.

Results: For 10 906 children, the coverage of vitamin A supplementation was 68.5%, with regional variations of between 8% and 79%. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used on a nationally representative sample of mothers aged 15-49 years. The adjusted results showed that socio-demographic factors such as a maternal age greater than 24 years, living in rural areas and regional variations were positively associated with vitamin A supplementation.

Conclusions: From the results of the present study, we conclude that socio-demographic factors were influential on vitamin A supplementation in children aged less than 5 years. Therefore, national and community-level efforts to support younger mothers in urban areas in the regions with the lowest coverage are needed to increase the acceptance of vitamin A supplementation, aiming to improve the nutritional status of children and decrease inequity in health.

Keywords: Pakistan; children; health; maternal; socio-economic; vitamin A.