Evaluation of some nutritional biomarkers of the inmates in grand-bassam prison (Côte d'ivoire)

Abstract

Malnutrition is a public health problem with two billion people suffering from micronutrient deficiency.1 In addition, about 925million people are chronically undernourished with very high prevalence in Africa.2 For instance, 25.84% of sub-Sahara african were undernourished.2 This undernutrition increases morbidity, aggravates the vital prognosis of healthy subjects and remains the first cause of acquired immunodeficiency in the world.3,4 Its evaluation is therefore an important tool for public health and an indicator of a better standard of living.5 In Côte d’Ivoire, works on nutritional status have generally focused on the anthropometric parameters of children.6 Previous work carried out in the prison population of Grand-Bassam on nutritional status based on anthropometric parameters revealed 14.06% of undernutrition.7 To our knowledge, no study has been undertaken on the nutritional status of the prison population based on biological parameters. To overcome this lack of data and provide informations on the nutritional status of this fringe of the population, this study aims at assessing the nutritional status of carceral population of Grand-Bassam (Côte d’Ivoire) prison using nutritional biomarkers.