Nutritional resilience in Nepal following the earthquake of 2015

Abstract

Background The 2015 earthquake in Nepal caused massive damages and triggered relief activities to minimize human suffering. The post-earthquake nutrition and food security situation in the hardest hit areas remains uncertain. Methods Two national cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2014 and 2016 among households (HH) with pre-school aged children or newly married women. Of the 21 village development committees (VDCs) included in this sample, 7 fell within "earthquake-affected" areas. This paper presents data from 982 HH, 1015 women, and 883 children from 2014 and 1056 HH, 1083 women, and 998 children from 2016 living in these areas, with longitudinal overlap of about 55%. Prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated, and logistic regression was used to calculate p-values, both using robust estimates of standard errors to account for clustering. Results From 2014 to 2016, child wasting (weight-for-height z score