IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i21p14139-d957247.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Associated with Low Birthweight in Low-and-Middle Income Countries in South Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Ngan Ngo

    (Department of Health Science and Biostatistics, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3150, Australia)

  • Jahar Bhowmik

    (Department of Health Science and Biostatistics, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3150, Australia)

  • Raaj Kishore Biswas

    (Charles Perkins Centre, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

Abstract

Child with Low Birth Weight (LBW) has a higher risk of infant mortality, learning difficulties in childhood due to stunted growth and impaired neurodevelopment, is more likely to develop heart diseases and diabetes in adulthood. This study aimed to evaluate the latest demographic and health surveys (DHSs) across multiple countries in South Asia to determine the factors associated with LBW among these countries. Latest available DHS data across Afghanistan (2015, n = 29,461), Bangladesh (2018, n = 20,127), Nepal (2016, n = 12,862), and Pakistan (2018, n = 15,068) were analysed. Complex survey adjusted generalized linear models were fitted to investigate the association of birth weight with sociodemographic and decision-making factors. Pakistan had the highest proportion of LBW at 18% followed by Afghanistan and Bangladesh at around 14% and Nepal had the lowest (13%). Children born in Pakistan were more likely to have LBW children than Afghanistan (AOR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.49–3.14). Mothers living in rural areas (AOR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.61–0.97), with highly educated partners and belonging to richer families were less susceptible to having child with LBW. To reduce 30% LBW in-line with the World Health Organisation’s 2025 goal, policymakers in SA should focus on women in urban areas with low-educated partners belonging to poor households to ease LBW burden.

Suggested Citation

  • Ngan Ngo & Jahar Bhowmik & Raaj Kishore Biswas, 2022. "Factors Associated with Low Birthweight in Low-and-Middle Income Countries in South Asia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-9, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14139-:d:957247
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14139/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14139/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mahrt, Kristi & Mather, David & Herforth, Anna & Headey, Derek, 2019. "Household Dietary Patterns and the Cost of a Nutritious Diet in Myanmar," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 303028, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    2. Janak Kumar Thapa & Doris Stöckl & Raj Kumar Sangroula & Asha Pun & Meena Thapa & Mahesh Kumar Maskey & Maria Delius, 2021. "Investment case approach for equitable access to maternal neonatal and child health services: Stakeholders’ perspective in Nepal," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(10), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Ghouse, Ghulam & Zaid, Muhammad, 2016. "Determinants of Low Birth Weight a Cross Sectional Study: In Case of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 70660, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bai, Yan & Costlow, Leah & Ebel, Alissa & Laves, Sarah & Ueda, Yurika & Volin, Natalie & Zamek, Maya & Herforth, Anna & Masters, William A., 2021. "Review: Retail consumer price data reveal gaps and opportunities to monitor food systems for nutrition," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    2. Kate R. Schneider & Luc Christiaensen & Patrick Webb & William A. Masters, 2023. "Assessing the affordability of nutrient‐adequate diets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 503-524, March.
    3. Dizon,Felipe Jr Fadullon & Wang,Zetianyu & Mulmi,Prajula, 2021. "The Cost of a Nutritious Diet in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9578, The World Bank.
    4. Meng Yang & Feng Qiu & Juan Tu, 2022. "Premiums for Residing in Unfavorable Food Environments: Are People Rational?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-14, June.
    5. Raghunathan, Kalyani & Headey, Derek & Herforth, Anna, 2021. "Affordability of nutritious diets in rural India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    6. Mona Pourghaderi & Anahita Houshiarrad & Morteza Abdollahi & Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh & Fatemeh Esfarjani & Mohammad-Reza Khoshfetrat & Ghasem Fadavi & Fatemeh Mohammadi-Nasrabadi, 2023. "A Systematic Review on Food Baskets Recommended in the Eastern Mediterranean Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-20, October.
    7. Headey, Derek & Hirvonen, Kalle & Alderman, Harold, 2024. "Estimating the cost and affordability of healthy diets: How much do methods matter?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    8. Bai, Yan & Alemu, Robel & Block, Steven A. & Headey, Derek & Masters, William A., 2021. "Cost and affordability of nutritious diets at retail prices: Evidence from 177 countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Dizon,Felipe Jr Fadullon & Josephson,Anna Leigh & Wang,Zetianyu, 2022. "Intra-Household Inequality in Food Consumption and Diets in the Philippines," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10170, The World Bank.
    10. Vasilii Erokhin & Li Diao & Tianming Gao & Jean-Vasile Andrei & Anna Ivolga & Yuhang Zong, 2021. "The Supply of Calories, Proteins, and Fats in Low-Income Countries: A Four-Decade Retrospective Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-30, July.
    11. Schneider, Kate & Christiaensen, Luc & Webb, Patrick & Masters, William A., 2021. "Availability, Seasonality, and Affordability of Nutritious Diets for All – Evidence from Malawi," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315036, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Christian Barika Igbeghe & Tamás Mizik & Zoltán Gabnai & Attila Bai, 2023. "Trends and Characterization of Primary Energy Sources by Energy and Food Prices," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-18, March.
    13. Fang, Peixun & Belton, Ben & Zhang, Xiaobo & Ei Win, Hnin, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-19 on Myanmar's chicken and egg sector, with implications for the sustainable development goals," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    14. Headey, Derek & Bachewe, Fantu & Marshall, Quinn & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Mahrt, Kristi, 2024. "Food prices and the wages of the poor: A cost-effective addition to high-frequency food security monitoring," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Jessica M. Scott & Ben Belton & Kristi Mahrt & Shakuntala H. Thilsted & Jessica R. Bogard, 2023. "Food systems transformation, animal-source foods consumption, inequality, and nutrition in Myanmar," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(5), pages 1345-1364, October.
    16. Philipp A. Trotter & Tristan Becker & Renaldi Renaldi & Xinfang Wang & Radhika Khosla & Grit Walther, 2023. "The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: A large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1429-1446, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14139-:d:957247. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.