ABSTRACT

Coastal morphology makes Bangladesh vulnerable to environmental hazards and climate change. Therefore, environmental characteristics may shape population health, including child health. The prevalence of stunting among under-five aged (U5) children is high in Bangladesh. However, there is a lack of research on environmental predictors of stunting. This study aimed to assess the association between community-level environmental characteristics and stunting using pooled data from the three latest Bangladesh demographic and health surveys (BDHS). According to the multilevel model, rainfall, distance to protected areas, and vegetation index showed a nonlinear association with stunting. The temperature was inversely, and distance to water bodies was positively related to stunting. Overall, results evidence the environmental characteristics are predictive of stunting, and these characteristics should be taken into account during intervention design to minimise the negative effects of environmental change on child health. Further research is also necessary to comprehend the causal pathways between environmental characteristics and stunting in Bangladesh.

摘要

沿海地貌使孟加拉国容易受到环境危害和气候变化的影响。因此，环境特征可能影响人口健康，包括儿童健康。孟加拉国五岁以下（U5）儿童发育迟缓的患病率很高。然而，缺乏对发育迟缓的环境预测因素的研究。本研究旨在利用最近三项孟加拉国人口与健康调查 (BDHS) 的汇总数据评估社区层面的环境特征与发育迟缓之间的关联。根据多层次模型，降雨量、到保护区的距离和植被指数与发育迟缓呈非线性关联。温度呈反比，与水体的距离与发育迟缓呈正相关。全面的，结果表明，环境特征可以预测发育迟缓，在干预设计期间应考虑这些特征，以尽量减少环境变化对儿童健康的负面影响。还需要进一步的研究来理解孟加拉国环境特征和发育迟缓之间的因果关系。