Landholding, wealth and risk of blinding malnutrition in rural Bangladeshi households
Cohen, N.; Jalil, M.A.; Rahman, H.; Matin, M.A.; Sprague, J.; Islam, J.; Davison, J.; Leemhuis de Regt, E.; Mitra, M.
Social Science and Medicine 21(11): 1269-1272
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0277-9536 PMID: 3879383 DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(85)90276-xDocument Number: 418538
The 1982-1983 Bangladesh nutritional blindness study visited 11,618 rural households and examined 18,660 preschool-age children in an effort to determine the prevalence and determinants of eye lesions and loss of sight due to vitamin A deficiency (xerophthalmia). Risk of xerophthalmia was significantly higher for children from households without any of the indicators of relative wealth used. Almost 80% of blind children came from landless households, and even a very small garden reduced considerably the chances of a household having a xerophthalmic child. Poorer households with access to less than 0.3 acres land or no garden or without a tin roof, wristwatch, radio or cycle were at least twice as likely as their more fortunate neighbours to have a young child with any type of xerophthalmia. Taking account of such socio-environmental risk factor weighings would direct the scarce resources of intervention programmes to households and children who most need them.
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