Assessment of the Prevalence and Factors Associated with Malnutrition Among Ages 6-59 Months of Children in Burayu Town, Oromia, Ethiopia, 2017
Creators: name: Hordofa, Arare
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2017

description: Introduction: - Malnutrition is a major public health problem among under five children. More than one-third of deaths during the first five years of life are attributed to under nutrition, which are mostly preventable through economic development and public health measures. World Health Organization estimated that there are 178 million malnourished children across the globe, and at any given moment, 20 million of these are suffering from the most severe form of malnutrition, and it is indicated that underweight is the single largest risk factor contributing to the global burden of disease in the developing world. An estimated 80% of world's stunted children lived in just fourteen countries, Ethiopia is found in the seventh rank. This study tried to show the prevalence of malnutrition in Burayu Town, that fills the knowledge gap, because there is no prior research on the zone. Second, the research tries to see the associated factors that are contributing for the prevalence of malnutrition in the zone, which can help to develop a better intervention strategy. To alleviate this problem, it is necessary to determine the nature, magnitude, and determinants of under nutrition. Objective: - To determine the prevalence of malnutrition and associated factors among ages 6-59 months of children in Burayu Town, Ethiopia 2017. Method and Analysis: - A community based cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted from February to April 2017. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select sample of 420 under five children aged 6-59 months old. Data was collected using semi structured questionnaire, and anthropometric measurement. Data was entered into Epidata 7 and exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. The data was coded, edited, and cleaned, before statistical analysis. WHO Antroplus software was used to compute (WAZ) weight for age z-score ,(HAZ) height for age z-score and (WHZ) weight for height z-score. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, cross tabulation and graph was used to describe the prevalence and associated factors of under nutrition. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to explore associations. Statistically significant associations were declared association at p-value of &lt;0.05. Result: Out of the total 413 study subjects 64(15.5%), 72 (17.4%) and 45(10.9%) were stunted, wasted and underweight respectively. Male sex {AOR=1.86; CI (1.01-3.41)} and decision on family monthly income by only husband {AOR=3.72; CI (1.32-10.48)} were associated with stunting. Male sex {AOR=1.76; CI (1.01-3.06)} and used untreated water {AOR=2.1; CI (1.2-3.77)} were associated with wasting. Use of untreated water {AOR=2.3; CI (1.23-4.61)} and male sex {AOR=2.65; CI (1.33-35.3)} were associated with underweight. Conclusion and Recommendation: The study revealed that wasting was high among children below five years of age in Burayu town. Stunting and underweight were slightly high. There is a need to design and implement community based intervention to decrease malnutrition. Key words: Children, Under nutrition, Stunting, Wasting and Underweight; Burayu Town