Changes in nutritional status of children who lived in temporary shelters in Bhaktapur municipality after the 2015 Nepal
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(2020) 48:53
Tropical Medicine and Health
RESEARCH
Open Access
Changes in nutritional status of children who lived in temporary shelters in Bhaktapur municipality after the 2015 Nepal earthquake Bhim Gopal Dhoubhadel1*† , Ganendra Bhakta Raya2†, Dhruba Shrestha2, Raj Kumar Shrestha2, Yogendra Dhungel2, Motoi Suzuki3, Michio Yasunami3,4, Chris Smith1, Koya Ariyoshi1,3,5 and Christopher M. Parry1,6,7
Abstract Background: The nutritional status of children may deteriorate after natural disasters such as earthquakes. A 7.8 Richter scale earthquake struck Nepal in 2015 that affected 1.1 million children. Children whose homes were destroyed and had to live in temporary shelters were at risk of malnutrition. With the support of Nagasaki University School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (TMGH) and Siddhi Memorial Hospital (SMH), we conducted a nutritional survey of under-5 children living in temporary shelters in Bhaktapur Municipality in 2015 immediately after the earthquake and a follow-up survey in 2017. Results: We found 591 under-5 children living in 22 temporary shelters in 2015. A total of 285 children were followed up and re-assessed in 2017. In a paired analysis (n = 285), the prevalence of underweight children increased from 10.9% in 2015 to 14.0% in 2017 (P < 0.001), stunting increased from 26.7 to 31.9% (P = 0.07), and wasting decreased from 4.2 to 2.5% (P = 0.19). Conclusions: Children who lived in temporary shelters after the 2015 Nepal earthquake might be at increased risk of a deterioration in nutritional status. Keywords: Earthquake, Malnutrition, Children, Nepal, Nutrition, Disaster, Wasting, Underweight, Stunting
Background In addition to human casualties, earthquakes can cause the destruction of houses and stored food, and deaths of livestock that can result in food deprivation and may lead to malnutrition among children [1]. On April 25, 2015, a 7.8 Richter scale earthquake struck Nepal. It caused more than 8800 human casualties and affected 5.6 million people, including 1.1 million children mostly * Correspondence: [email protected] † The authors Ganendra Bhakta Raya and Bhim Gopal Dhoubhadel contributed equally to this work as first authors 1 School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (TMGH), Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
in 14 districts [2]. Along with infections, malnutrition can increase the risk of child deaths. Therefore, it is essential to monitor the nutritional status of affected children after an earthquake [3]. Studies show that the prevalence of malnutrition increases after natural disasters, including earthquakes. The Wenchuan earthquake in China, a tsunami in Sri Lanka, and floods in India have been associated with a higher prevalence of malnutrition among children [4–7]. The prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting children rose from 0 to 5.9%, 6.6 to 10.8%, and 1.3 to 4.0%, respectively, in Kang County, China, after 2 years of the earthquake [5]. Simil
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