Socioeconomic Inequality with a View to Under 5 Child Malnutrition in Belize

• Main Authors: Tanisha Benjamin, 譚黛安
• Other Authors: Bradley Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/7f573k

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 國際衛生碩士學位學程 === 107 === Background: Developing countries, while still struggling and although making progress at decreasing child undernutrition is being confronted with an increasing prevalence of child overnutrition. National prevalence however may mask inequalities within groupings. This study assesses inequality in stunting and obesity in children <5 years in Belize overtime. Methods: This study uses nationally representative cross-sectional data from the Belize Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2011 and 2015-2016. Child malnutrition inequality was first assessed by constructing Concentration Curves to visualize the patterns of the inequality. The magnitude of the inequalities was then quantified by calculating Concentration Indices. Lastly, Decomposition Analyses were performed to determine the pathways that give rise to these inequalities. Results: The overall prevalence of child stunting and overweight decreased from 2011 to 2015-2016 from 19.4%-15.1% and 7.9%-7.4%, respectively. Stunting was concentrated among the poor but the inequality in stunting had been reduced over the study period. Overweight was concentrated among the rich and inequality in overweight increased during the same study period. Wealth and ethnicity of the household head were the largest contributors to inequality in child stunting while wealth and education of the mother were the largest contributors to inequality in child overweight. Conclusion: Belize experienced a decrease in overall prevalence of child malnutrition along with a decrease in socioeconomic inequality in child undernutrition. Like other developing countries, child obesity is concentrated among the rich. Safety net poverty alleviation programmes might have been effective in decreasing both the prevalence and socioeconomic inequality in stunting. Continued national efforts to address poverty; providing equal or greater schooling incentives for females; having nutritional professionals to work with mothers and having medical professionals who are sensitive to cultural differences are important policy implications that can aid in closing the gap between the rich and the poor in Belize.