Community‐level considerations in nutrition planning in low income nations

Reaching those most in need of assistance is a neglected issue in nutrition planning in low income nations. This study shows that the variations in the proportion of third degree Gomez classification of malnutrition among Filipino preschoolers increase significantly as the administration unit decreases from region to province to municipality and finally to the smallest unit— the village oibarangay. At the village level, the proportion of preschoolers with third degree Gomez varied over 30 fold within the same area in the Philippines. Moreover, using Filipino household‐level survey data, it is shown that it is possible to use socioeconomic and other community‐level factors to predict which communities are most nutritionally needy in terms of the proportion of children with third degree malnutrition by the Gomez classification. One implication of this study is the need to give careful consideration to community level factors in the allocation of nutrition resources and the possibility of using nonnutritional indicators for this purpose. Another implication is that caution must be used in generalizing findings from nutritional studies conducted in a limited number of villages.

Key words:

• malnutrition
• socioeconomic status
• resource allocation
• preventive services
• preschool
• Philippines
• poverty
• surveys
• planning