Nutritional Assessment of under Five years Children in Mygoma Orphanage Home, Sudan

Background: Adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is essential to ensure the growth, health, and development of children to their full potential. Malnutrition is globally the most important risk factor for illness and death, contributing to more than half of deaths in children worldwide. Orphanages are one alternative for the survival of children without parents able to care for them. Attention to them, support of their activities, and improvement of the living conditions there are all important. The orphan children are the most vulnerable section to malnutrition in our society. Causes of death of children placed in orphanages are largely preventable and thousands of children can be saved if their nutritional needs are catered for. Objective: To assess the nutritional status in relation to clinical presentations, anthropometrical measurements and hemoglobin level and to determine the adequacy of food given in energy in orphan children under 5 years old at Mygoma orphanage in Sudan. Materials and Methods: This Cross-sectional, descriptive, institution based study includes 123 children living in Mygoma orphanage during the study time. The planning of the study included the development of questionnaires in order to determine nutritional status and food offered, then to perform anthropometric measurements and take a sample for hemoglobin level. Results: Although the energy was adequate in 100% of the population according to the caloric requirement of each age group, underweight, < -2 SD was found in 30 children (24.4%). Severe underweight, -3 SD was found in 59 children (48%). When assessing height/length for age, Stunting (chronic malnutrition), <-2 SD was found in 25 orphans (20.3%), and severe stunting was found in 31 (25.2%). In regard to weight for height/length: Wasting (acute malnutrition) <-2 SD was found in 23 (18.70%), while severe wasting<-3 SD was found in 53 (43.10%). 41.5% of the children in Mygoma were symptomatic. Investigating hemoglobin level revealed that all children in the early neonatal period (< 7 days) had below normal levels. Conclusion: The incidence of malnutrition is high in Mygoma orphanage. Further studies are needed to determine the causes of malnutrition in this section of the community.