Background: The Infant's undernutrition is a significant health problem in Yemen. We aimed to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among infants attending maternal and child health centers in Sana'a city.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 Yemeni infants aged less than 1 year attended to MCHC in Sana'a city from March to May 2012. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to selected study participants. Data on demographic characteristics of infants and anthropometric measurements were collected using a structured questionnaire as a face to face interview. Data were analyzed using both WHO Anthro and SPSS software program. WHO Anthro was used to calculate the Z-score needed to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among infants. The final clear dataset are imported to SPSS.
Results: The mean age of infants was 4.3±3 months. 47.5% were boys and 52.5% were girls. The prevalence of wasting 11.8% is classified as “high”, the prevalence of stunting 40% is classified as “very high”, and the prevalence of underweight 20.3% is classified as “medium”. A statistical significant difference was not found by sex regarding wasting, stunting and underweight while statistical significant difference was found by age (?2-test, P<0.05).
Conclusion: The prevalence of malnutrition among infants was very serious problems in Sana'a city. Emergency nutrition programs should focus primarily on infants group.