Nutritional status and dietary diversity of pregnant and nonpregnant reproductive-age Rohingya women

Shah Mohammad Fahim; Subhasish Das; Md Golam Rasul; Mahabub Uz Zaman; Md Ashraful Alam; Sazia Afrin; Kazi Nazmus Saqeeb; Md Mahmudul Hasan; A F M Mahbubul Alam; Morseda Chowdhury; Tahmeed Ahmed

doi:10.1002/fsn3.3508

Nutritional status and dietary diversity of pregnant and nonpregnant reproductive-age Rohingya women

Food Sci Nutr. 2023 Jun 15;11(9):5523-5531. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.3508. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Nutrition and Clinical Services Division International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) Dhaka Bangladesh.
² Division of Nutritional Sciences Cornell University Ithaca New York USA.
³ Health, Nutrition and Population Programme BRAC Dhaka Bangladesh.
⁴ Office of the Executive Director, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) Dhaka Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Global Health University of Washington Seattle Washington USA.
⁶ Department of Public Health Nutrition, James P Grant School of Public Health BRAC University Dhaka Bangladesh.

Abstract

There are no data on the nutritional status and dietary diversity of the pregnant and nonpregnant reproductive-age Rohingya women who have recently shifted to the Bhasan Char Relocation Camp located on an island in the Bay of Bengal. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in November-December, 2021 to assess the nutritional status and evaluate the dietary diversity of two vulnerable groups of the forcibly displaced Rohingya population: nonpregnant reproductive-age women and pregnant mothers. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to identify the factors associated with nutritional impairments. Overall, 7.6% of the nonpregnant reproductive-age women were underweight (Body Mass Index [BMI] < 18.5 kg/m²), and nearly one-third of them had a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m². However, 26.7% of the pregnant mothers were undernourished (BMI < 20.0 kg/m²) and almost one-fourth of them were either overweight or obese (BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m²). The prevalence of thinness (Mid Upper Arm Circumference [MUAC] < 23 cm) was 34.5% among pregnant mothers, and 10.1% of them were severely thin (MUAC < 21 cm). The mean (±SD) of the Women's Dietary Diversity Score (WDDS) was 3.3 (±1.1) for nonpregnant reproductive-age women and 3.7 (±1.3) for pregnant mothers enrolled in this study. Overall, 63.8% of the nonpregnant women of childbearing age and 46% of the pregnant mothers had a low WDDS (WDDS < 4). The WDDS was found to be protective against thinness among nonpregnant reproductive-age women (AOR = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.37, 0.93; p-value = .03) and low BMI in pregnant mothers (AOR = 0.71; 95% CI = 0.55, 0.91; p-value = .01). The results of this survey will assist in early recognition of the nutritional demands, and act as a guide to planning nutrition-based programs among Rohingya reproductive-age women relocated to the Bhasan Char Island.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Rohingya; dietary diversity; double burden of malnutrition; overnutrition; pregnancy; refugee health; undernutrition; women of reproductive age.