64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

An analysis of the dual burden of childhood stunting and wasting in Myanmar: a copula geoadditive modelling approach

Conference

64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

Format: CPS Abstract

Keywords: copula

Abstract

In this study, we explore the spatial variation of childhood stunting and wasting across regions of Myanmar and quantify their association with various socio-economic and demographic risk factors while accounting for the dependence between the two measures of undernutrition. Analysis was carried out on data obtained from a nationally representative sample of households from the Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey conducted during 2015-2016. Childhood stunting and wasting are used as a proxies of chronic and acute childhood undernutrition respectively. A child with standardized height-for-age Z score (HAZ) below -2 is categorized as stunted while that with a weight-for-height Z score (WHZ) below -2 as wasted. Both stunting and wasting had significant within and between-region spatial variation across Myanmar and had significant non-linear association with covariates like child's age and maternal weight-for-age and height-for-age Z scores. The study revealed a mild positive association between stunting and wasting across regions. In general, child gender, ethnicity, maternal working status and household wealth quintile had significant association with childhood stunting while wasting was impacted by child gender, maternal working status, household location and wealth quintile. This is possibly the first study that provides data-driven evidence on the spatial variation of childhood stunting and wasting across regions of Myanmar as well as their association patterns with relevant risk factors. The resulting spatial maps and estimates can aid in the formulation and implementation of targeted, region-specific interventions towards improving the state of childhood undernutrition in Myanmar.