Sibiri Bougma^{1, 2}, Fatoumata Hama-Ba^1,, Franck Garanet³, Aly Savadogo²

The objective of this study was to assess the nutritional status of displaced and non-displaced children in a context of security crisis in North Center of Burkina Faso. The study population comprised 205 internally displaced children and 167 non-displaced children, all aged 6 to 59 months, and their mothers/primary caregivers living in the commune of Kaya in North Center of Burkina Faso. Children were selected using a two-stage cluster sampling procedure. This cross-sectional study was carried out between June-July 2020. Demographic characteristics, child nutrition and health status, and maternal and household information were collected from mothers through interviews. The distribution of different nutritional status, such as underweight, stunting and wasting and malnutrition-related factors was analyze. The overall prevalent rates of underweight, wasting and stunting were 20.4%, 13.7% and 33.6%, respectively. In the group of displaced children, these were 21.5%, 12.2% and 37.1%, while in the non-displaced, they were 19.2%, 15.6% and 29.3%, respectively. The mean nutritional indices were found to be significantly lower among the displaced children than non-displaced (P<0.001). The present study revealed that in the multivariate analysis, diarrhoea and ARI, mother’s BMI < 18.5 kg/m², LBW < 2.5 kg, household size of five and above using a latrine and source of drinking water were positively associated with malnutrition of children in both communities. Prevention of malnutrition should be given a high priority in the implementation of the ongoing primary health care programmes with particular attention paid to the displaced populations.

children, insecurity context, malnutrition, mothers, food practices