@article{ref1,
title="What effect does international migration have on the nutritional status and child care practices of children left behind?",
journal="International journal of environmental research and public health",
year="2016",
author="Jayatissa, Renuka and Wickramage, Kolitha",
volume="13",
number="2",
pages="e13020218-e13020218",
abstract="Despite an increasing trend in labour migration and economic dependence on foreign migrant workers in Sri Lanka, very little is known about the child care and nutritional status of &quot;children left behind&quot;. The aim of this study was to examine the factors influencing the nutritional status and care practices of children left behind. A sample of 321 children, 6-59 months old of international migrant workers from a cross-sectional nationally represented study were included. Care practices were assessed using ten caregiving behaviours on personal hygiene, feeding, and use of health services. <br><br>RESULTS revealed the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight to be 11.6, 18.2 and 24.0 percent, respectively. Father being a migrant worker has a positive effect on childcare practices and birthweight of the child. This study indicates that undernutrition remains a major concern, particularly in the poorest households where the mother is a migrant worker, also each additional 100 g increase in the birthweight of a child in a migrant household, decreases the probability of being wasted, stunted and underweight by 6%, 8% and 23% respectively. In depth study is needed to understand how labour migration affects household level outcomes related to child nutrition and childcare in order to build skills and capacities of migrant families.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-7827",
doi="10.3390/ijerph13020218",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13020218"
}