Assessment of the Nutritional Status and Personal Hygiene of Adolescent Girls in Rural Areas of Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Aims: The study was conducted to explore nutritional status and personal hygiene practices of rural adolescents girls at Chittagong area in Bangladesh. Study design: The study was cross sectional in nature.  Place and Duration of Study: The study was performed in the rural areas at Chittagong in Bangladesh, during the period from September, 2017 to August, 2018. Methodology: The data was collected by administration of a prestructured, pretested questionnaire from selected adolescent girls to describe the situation of nutritional status and personal hygiene. Height and weight were measured by standardized techniques in a sample of 350 adolescents. Then BMI was calculated. IBM SPSS Statistics version 23.0 was used to determine statistical analysis. Level of significance was considered at 5 % level. Results: We found 2.67% of adolescent girls were overweight, 58% normal weight, 39.33% underweight, 28% had normal Hb level, 76% washing hand with soap before eating, 95% washing hand with soap after using toilet,  98% were using footwear during latrine usage, 29% using pad during menstruation. Conclusion: About fifty percent girls had normal nutritional status. Maximum girls were not having normal hemoglobin level. Out of 350 girls most were not using sanitary pad. There was no significant association between BMI of different rural areas in Bangladesh. Therefore it is important to give nutritional knowledge to build up awareness.