Child malnutrition rates vary among Ghanaians and Liberian refugees living in Ghana

We assessed the prevalence of wasting, stunting, and undernutrition among children aged 6-60 months of female Liberian refugees (n=239) and Ghanaians living in Buduburam Refugee Settlement (n=121) and an adjacent Ghanaian village (n=120). Liberian refugees live in all 12 camp zones while Ghanaians predominately live in 2 of the 12 zones (zones 11 & 12). The WHO Child Growth Standards were used to generate standardized z-scores for weight-for-height, height-for-age, and weight-for-age. The prevalence of wasting and underweight was highest among the children of Liberian refugees living in zones 1-10 compared to Liberian refugees and Ghanaian children living in zones 11 & 12 and Ghanaian children living in the adjacent village (prevalence of wasting: 5.8% vs. 1.7%, 1.7%, and 2.5% respectively; prevalence of underweight: 9.2% vs. 7.6%, 5.2%, and 8.8% respectively). Rates of stunting were highest among Ghanaian children living in the adjacent village and Ghanaian children living in zones 11 & 12 (29.8% and 24.1%, respectively) compared to Liberian refugee children living in the Settlement (20.3% for those in zones 11-12 and 23.3% for those in zones 1-10). These preliminary results show that Liberian refugee children living in Buduburam Refugee Settlement are experiencing more acute malnutrition, yet Ghanaian children within the camp and the surrounding community are more susceptible to chronic malnutrition. These findings suggest that programs targeting malnutrition among refugees may need to be extended to the surrounding settlement communities to address high rates of malnutrition there as well. Funding was provided by a West African Research Association Postdoctoral Fellowship.