Link NCA Kutupalong Makeshift Settlements, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
This study was conducted in the Kutupalong Makeshift Settlements. Commissioned by Action Against Hunger Bangladesh and funded by SIDA, UNHCR and WFP. Its purpose was to identify the risk factors of undernutrition in the area to inform and improve nutrition security programmes.
1st January 2019
Action Against Hunger
SIDA, UNHCR & World Food Programme
Kutupalong Makeshift Settlements are located in Cox’s Bazar and they are home to Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar during the intensification of conflict in August 2017. Despite massive humanitarian interventions covering all key sectors, undernutrition in the settlements remains a public health concern while the context is shifting from the emergency phase to a protracted crisis phase. During the Link NCA quantitative survey, the prevalence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) was estimated at 11.7%. The prevalence of global chronic malnutrition (GCM) was estimated to be 33.6% and 29.1% of children were underweight.
The analyses undertaken during this Link NCA study allowed to identify 18 risk factors, believed to have an impact on the incidence of undernutrition in the study zone. Following a triangulation of data from diverse sources, three (3) risk factors were identified as having a major impact, namely:
- Low birth-spacing and/or unwanted pregnancies,
- Early marriage/pregnancy and
- Non-optimal hygiene practices.