Assessment of Malnutrition and Anaemia and Their Determinants among Refugee Pre-School Children in Kebribeyah Refugee Camp, Somali Region, Ethiopia
Creators: name: Jemal, Yasin
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2010

description: Background: Malnutrition and anemia remain one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children throughout the world. Both malnutrition and anemia are important health problems affecting preschool children and pregnant women. Refugee children, due to their living condition, are the most vulnerable to suffer from these problems. Surveys in the refugee camps have shown that the prevalence of malnutrition and anaemia in the refugee camps were high. However, underlying variations of these nutritional indicators and determinant factors among refugee camps were poorly understood. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess malnutrition and anemia and identify the various causes and determinants and their relative contributions in refugee settings. Methodology: Cross -sectional study with analytic component was conducted in Kebribayah refugee camp on a total of 671 refugee children aged between 6 and 59 months during the month of March 2010. Simple random sampling method was employed to collect quantitative data using structured questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic characteristics, child related variables, maternal/care takers characteristics, environmental health conditions, anthropometric and hemoglobin measurements. The study groups were drawn using random table number to select the sampled households from the roaster. Data were entered using EPI-INFO software (version 3.5.1.) and exported into SPSS for analysis. NCHS/WHO reference population and standard was used to convert height and weight measurements into nutritional indices. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were utilized to identify the factors associated with under-nutrition and anaemia. Results: Overall, the prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting were 27.6%, 26.1% and 8.9% respectively. While the prevalence of severe stunting, underweight and wasting was 9.5%, 4.8% and 2.5% respectively. The prevalence of anaemia was 52.4% and the magnitude of severe anaemia was 10.5%. The main determinant factors of stunting were child age, maternal illiteracy, paternal lack of education, and family size. Child sex, age, maternal lack of education, childhood illness such as diarrhea and ARI, and lack availability of toilet facility were associated with underweight. Age of child, sharing and selling of food ration, duration of ration lasting, presence of ARI and poor personal hygiene (number of baths took) were the most important determinants of wasting. The most determinant factors of anaemia were child age, lack of maternal and paternal education, number of under five children in the HH, duration of ration lasting, sharing and selling part of the ration, presence of diarrhea, stunting and underweight. Conclusion and recommendations: The study indicates that underweight is serious in the area according to the WHO classification, and chronic nutritional problem is also of particular concern. The study also shows that anaemia was highly prevalent in the area and was categorized as severe, compared to the WHO classification. Overall, the state of nutrition was better in the area than other surveys but anaemia was highly prevalent and severe in the study area. Actions targeting early child illness treatment are necessary to improve the nutritional status of the children. In addition, it is advisable to consider fortified food ration with iron for the community