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. 2020 Feb 8;17(3):1079.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17031079.

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Child Malnutrition in Bangladesh: Do They Differ by Region?

Mohammad Monirul Hasan  1 , Jalal Uddin  2 , Mohammad Habibullah Pulok  3 , Nabila Zaman  4 , Mohammad Hajizadeh  5
Affiliations

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Child Malnutrition in Bangladesh: Do They Differ by Region?

Mohammad Monirul Hasan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Socioeconomic inequality in child malnutrition is well-evident in Bangladesh. However, little is known about whether this inequality differs by regional contexts. We used pooled data from the 2011 and 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey to examine regional differences in socioeconomic inequalities in stunting and underweight among children under five. The analysis included 14,602 children aged 0-59 months. We used logistic regression models and the Concentration index to assess and quantify wealth- and education-related inequalities in child malnutrition. We found stunting and underweight to be more concentrated among children from poorer households and born to less-educated mothers. Although the poverty level was low in the eastern regions, socioeconomic inequalities were greater in these regions compared to the western regions. The extent of socioeconomic inequality was the highest in Sylhet and Chittagong for stunting and underweight, respectively, while it was the lowest in Khulna. Regression results demonstrated the protective effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on child malnutrition. The regional differences in the effects of SES tend to diverge at the lower levels of SES, while they converge or attenuate at the highest levels. Our findings have policy implications for developing programs and interventions targeted to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in child malnutrition in subnational regions of Bangladesh.

Keywords: Bangladesh; inequalities; regional variation; socioeconomic status; stunting; underweight.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Poverty rates across the regions of Bangladesh, based on Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016–2017.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of child malnutrition (in percentage) across the regions of Bangladesh, calculated from the 2011 and 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Regional variation in wealth-related inequalities in malnutrition, measured by the Erregerys Index.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Regional variation in education-related inequalities in malnutrition, measured by the Erregerys Index.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Wealth-related inequalities in child malnutrition across the regions of Bangladesh.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Education-related inequalities in child malnutrition across the regions of Bangladesh.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Predicated probabilities from the interactions between wealth and region.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Predicated probabilities from the interactions between mother’s education and region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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