Evaluation of the nutritional status of syrian refugee children aged from 6 to 59 months at zaatari camp in jordan

Introduction: This study is to assess the nutritional status of children aged between 6 and 59 months of Syrian refugees at Zaatari camp in Jordan.
Materials and methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional survey carried out at the military field hospital in Zaatari camp between January and December 2016. It covers children aged from 6 to 59 months and born in Zaatari camp. The evaluation of the nutritional status of those children was assessed by measuring those variables: sex, age in months calculated from the medical booklet issued by the camp authorities, Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) and Presence of edema.
Results: This survey involved 6986 children between 6 and 59 months of whom 3219 were boys (46.1%). The overall prevalence of malnutrition was 4.3%, 27 of whom were severely malnourished and 276 of them are moderate malnutrition. 79.9% of malnourished children were aged between 6 and 12 months. Malnutrition declined with age, girls were the most affected with a prevalence of 5.3% versus 3.3% among boys. This trend was statistically significant with p <0.001. No cases of edema were detected.
Conclusion: Refugee children were most affected by malnutrition. Our work suggests strengthening the promotion of breastfeeding and family planning programs.