Shared environments: a multilevel analysis of community context and child nutritional status in Bangladesh

Abstract

The goal of the study was to examine the influence of community environment on the nutritional status (weight-for-age and height-forage) of children (aged 0–59 months) in Bangladesh. In addition, we tested the association between specific characteristics of community environments and child nutritional status. The data are from the nationally representative 2004 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. The findings showed that the community environment influences child nutrition in Bangladesh, and maternal- and child-level covariates may fail to capture the entire influence of communities.