TRENDS IN THE NUTRITIONAL-STATUS OF SALVADORIAN CHILDREN - THE POSTWAR EXPERIENCE

This article examines trends in the nutritional status of children in El Salvador between 1988 and 1993 (before and after the signing of a p eace accord that ended the civil war.) The data derive from two nation al surveys, each of which included measurements of the height and weig ht of children aged 3-59 months. The prevalence of low weight-for-age (< -2 SD) dropped from 15% in 1988 to 10.5% in 1993. The prevalence of low weight-for-height (< -2 SD) was minimal in both surveys: falling from 3.9% to 2.9%. The prevalence of low height-for-age (< -2 SD) fell from 28.1% to 22%. These declines in malnutrition indicators resulted from an upward shift in the distributions of weight and height of chi ldren, not from thinner lower tails of the distributions. The quality of anthropometric data appears to be high for both surveys: < 1% of su rveyed children had heights or weights outside the expected range. Thi s analysis demonstrates the value of repeated surveys of nutritional s tatus.