Background: Stunting is chronic restriction of growth in height indicated by low height-for-age. It is a reliable
indicator of long-term under nutrition among young children. Stunted children are more prone to communicable
diseases. The main causes of stunting are not providing proper nutritious food, not enough food and of poor
quality, improper feeding practices and different infections including malaria, ARI and diarrhea. We conducted
this survey to determine the frequency and determinants of stunting among 18 to 36 months old children in
Bhawalghar Village, District Lodhran
Methods: We did cross-sectional study in Bhawalghar village of district Lodhran. All of the children from 18 to 36
months of age were included in this study from two randomly selected clusters.
Results: Gender, parental education, income, type of housing, vaccination coverage, parity of women, height
of child and number of food items were identified as determinants of stunting. There was a statistically
significant relationship between stunting and the study variables. We found that about half (48%) of the children
of age 18-36 months living in Bhawalghar Village, District Lodhran were stunted.
Conclusions: Stunting is a major problem among the children of rural Punjab, Pakistan. There is a dire need to
improve the nutritional status of the children in this region.