Publication:

Nutritional status and key factors among vagrants at Government Shelter Home Dhaka, Bangladesh

Background Nutritional status and others related determinants among vagrants are important issues even in developing countries like Bangladesh. Exploring the current situation it terms of magnitude of people would be a good resource for the policy makers in considering the malnutrition, health care and other supports for the shelter less population.

Methods A cross sectional descriptive study was done. A total of 106 vagabonds form government shelter home were included. The nutritional statuses of the respondents were assessed using measured BMI and dietary pattern was assessed by the 24-hour recall method. The data were processed to undergo statistical analysis using SPSS 23 windows program.

Results The overall mean age of of the respondents 35.3±9.86 years and 42 (39.7%) were in 18-20 years age group and 62% were female. About 62% were correctly married and 22% were single life lead. Less than half (47.1%) of the respondents non-educated, on the other hand 40(37.7%) of the respondents were primary level educated. 22.6% vagrants were abandoned by their family due to certain problems. Association of age group with BMI most respondents were in underweight that gain highly significance where (p=0.0001), there had no association was found between educational status and BMI except non-educated (p=0.025). Most respondents were significant Hand washing before eating, daily bath taken and Suffering from disease Last 1 month with nutritional status where (p=0.020), (p=0.010) and (p=0.0001).

Conclusions Special attention to be given for improving vagabonds care, Attention to improve service quality with special attention to identified areas (balanced diet, treatment etc).