The aim of this study was to characterize the morbidity caused by chronic and acute malnutrition and to identify the factors related to such conditions, with special emphasis on environmental factors, in children from one to five years of age, living in areas occupied by homeless or landless people. A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out in areas taken by homeless or landless people in the region of Juiz de Fora, MG. The inclusion criterion for the sample was drawing one child per family. The sample included 659 children. Data were gathered through household interviews. Logistic regression models were used in order to identify disease-related factors. Of the samples analyzed, 74 children (11.23%) were found to have chronic malnutrition and 40 (6.07%) of them were found to have acute malnutrition. Chronic environmental factors related to malnutrition included: intermittent water supply (OR = 2.44), poor quality child hygiene before feeding (OR = 2.05), and dumping children's diapers with feces in the area around the house (OR = 2.60). No variables connected to sanitation or hygiene were found to be related to acute malnutrition in the study.
Malnutrition; Child health; Environmental factors; Environmental Sanitation; Hygiene
