Prevalence of nutritional deficits among children under five years of age in Angola

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of nutritional deficiencies in Angolan children. METHODS A cross-sectional population based study. World Health Organization (2006) criteria were used to classify nutritional state. RESULTS A high prevalence of low height for age, weight for height and weight for age was observed (22%, 13% and 7%, respectively) among the children. CONCLUSIONS Nutritional deficiencies in children represents a serious public health problem in Bom Jesus, Angola.