Determinants of severe acute malnutrition among under five children in rural Enebsie Sarmidr District, East Gojjam Zone, North West Ethiopia, 2016

Tenaw Gualu,Abate Awoke,Mulatu Ayana

doi:10.1186/s40795-018-0211-5

Tenaw Gualu, Abate Awoke + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-018-0211-5

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Abstract

BackgroundSevere acute malnutrition is one of the major public health problems in developing countries having a devastating effect on the lives of many children under 5 years of age. In Ethiopia, there has been isolated studies conducted on malnutrition with no study attempting to identify the determinants of severe acute malnutrition in the rural district of Enebsie Sarmidr.This study intends to identify the determinants of severe acute malnutrition in rural district located in North West Ethiopia.MethodsA Community based un matched case -control study was carried on 311 (64 cases and 247 controls) children aged between birth–59 months with their respective mothers or care takers from March 1–30/ 2016. Odds Ratio along with 95% confidence interval was estimated to identify determinants of severe acute malnutrition using the multivariable logistic regression.ResultsThe response rate was 97.8%. Severe acute malnutrition was significantly associated with age groups birth-24 months (AOR = 2.64, 95% CI 1.17–5.95), late initiation of breast feeding greater than an hour after birth (AOR = 4.26, 95% CI 1.74–10.42), nonexclusive breast feeding (AOR =5.81, 95% CI 1.80–18.79), diarrheal disease in the preceding 2 weeks before SAM (AOR = 7.98, 95% CI 2.57–24.74), febrile illnesses preceding 2 weeks before SAM (AOR = 2.87 95% CI 1.13–7.63), decreased or maintained mealing of the mother compared to the regular during pregnancy or lactation (AOR = 8.15, 95% CI 3.70–17.98) and birth interval less than 2 years (AOR = 3.34, 95% CI 1.55–7.20) after controlling other variables effect.ConclusionA child’s age, late initiation of breast feeding, nonexclusive breast feeding, diarrheal diseases and febrile illnesses preceding 2 weeks before SAM, decreased or maintained mealing compared to the regular during pregnancy and lactating of the mother and narrow birth interval were identified as determinants of SAM. Therefore, collaborative efforts are needed to improve promotion of better child caring practices specifically, child and maternal feeding practices and prevention and treatment of acute illnesses.

Highlights

Severe acute malnutrition is one of the major public health problems in developing countries having a devastating effect on the lives of many children under 5 years of age
To identify determinants of severe acute malnutrition among rural district of children under 5 years of age living in Enebsie Sarmidr district, North West Ethiopia, 2016
Study area and period The study was conducted in the rural district of Enebsie Sarmidr, East Gojjam Zone, North West Ethiopia from March 1–30/2016

Summary

Introduction

Severe acute malnutrition is one of the major public health problems in developing countries having a devastating effect on the lives of many children under 5 years of age. In 2015, wasting related to malnutrition threatened the lives of 50 million children under 5 years of age, globally, of which 3.5 million will succumb [1]. Eastern Africa has,identified 6.6% of children under 5 years of age as wasted due to malnutrition [2]. Ethiopia has the region’s highest rate of wasting, or acute malnutrition with 9% identified as wasted and 33.3% severely malnourished [3]. Deaths are attributed to malnutrition; one study estimated 57% [4], and another stated 20% that further identified severe acute malnourishment as the cause of death [5, 6]

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