Nutritional assessment at a girls orphanage in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka according to length of stay
Sigal Eilat-Adar, Isabel Periquito, Alice Mo, Aviva Zeev, Naresh Gunaratnam
The Academic College at Wingate, Israel
Independent Researcher, Denmark
American Academy of Pediatrics, USA
Huron Gastro Center for Digestive Care, USA
: J Pharm Sci Emerg Drugs
Abstract
The civil war in 1983 and the 2004 tsunami in the island country of Sri Lanka both created a large number of health problems, particularly in coastal areas of the country. According to the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) for Sri Lanka, in the period 2006-2007 17.3% of children under five were found to be stunted, 14.7% were suffering from malnutrition, and 21.1% were underweight. The current study summarizes the nutritional assessment of the children at Grace Girls’ Home (GRACE), an orphanage in the city of Trincomalee in northeast Sri Lanka, according to their length of stay at the orphanage. Thirty-one girls aged 5-19 years old were in the care of the institution at the time of the survey. Height-for-age, weight-for-age, and BMIfor- age z-scores (HAZ, WAZ, and BMIZ, respectively) were calculated based on anthropometric measurements. Time at GRACE did not vary according to age at entrance. BMIZ was significantly higher in girls who stayed longer at GRACE – -0.69±0.82 in girls staying up to five years as compared to -0.15±0.44 in those staying over five years (P=0.001). There was a positive association between the length of stay at the institution and BMIZ, regardless of current age (r=0.54 P=0.006), which disappeared after adjustment for age at entrance (r=0.33 P=0.121). However, age at entrance by itself was not associated with the BMIZ score for age (r=-0.14 P=0.505). These results show that the length of stay in a secured place is associated with better growth, as expressed by BMIZ. From this small, specific group one can conclude that orphans residing in an orphanage benefit from a healthy weight gain and nutritional outcomes.
Biography
Sigal Eilat-Adar is a registered nutritionist and an epidemiologist. She did her postdoctoral project studying the epidemiology of the association between the diet of American Indians and Native Alaskans and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Since then, her expertise is in the evaluation of nutritional public health and she is passionate about improving health and well-being. She is the head of a second degree program in Healthy and Active Lifestyle Education at The Academic College at Wingate, Wingate Institute, Israel. For the past three decades she has worked as a clinical nutritionist in the Israeli Health Services, and she leads the Israel position statement on nutritional guidelines for prevention and treatment of CVD. In the last few years, she has volunteered in various communities around the world, sharing her knowledge and treatment skills.
E-mail: sigaleilat70@gmail.com
