Prevalence of Stunting and Its Associated Factors among Children of 6-59 Months in Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS), Southern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Biruk Bogale,Befikadu Tariku Gutema,Yilma Chisha

doi:10.1155/2020/9520973

Biruk Bogale, Befikadu Tariku Gutema + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/9520973

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Abstract

Methods The community-based cross sectional study was conducted in the Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site, Southern Ethiopia. The simple random sampling method was used to recruit 656 mother-child pairs. Height for age Z score was computed using WHO Anthro version 3.2.2 software. Multivariable logistic regression model was fitted, and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) at p value <0.05 was used to determine statistically significant association between predictors and outcome variable. Result The prevalence of stunting among children of 6–59 months in the study area was 47.9% (95% CI; 44.0–51.7). The likelihood of stunting was significantly higher among children who live in households with medium (AOR 2.20, 95% CI: 1.43–3.37) and poor (AOR 2.87, 95% CI: 1.72–4.81) wealth status. In addition, children who were not exclusively breast fed (AOR 1.55, 95% CI: 1.07–2.24), whose mothers had not participated in decision of major household purchases (AOR 2.27, 95% CI: 1.21–4.26), and whose mothers lacked decision on freedom of mobility (AOR 1.96, 95% CI: 1.05–3.66) were significantly stunted compared with counterparts. Conclusion Stunting is a severe public health problem in the area. Therefore, efforts should be taken to enhance maternal empowerment, household wealth, and infant and young child feeding practice for reducing stunting among children.

Highlights

Child stunting, which is a chronic length or height growth deficit, has been a devastating public health problem in developing countries
Study Setting and Design. e community-based cross sectional study was conducted from March to April 2019 in Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS)
Arba Minch HDSS located in Arba Minch Zuria District by including 9 kebeles. e Kebeles were selected from Arba Minch Zuria district by stratifying them based on the climatic zone: lowland, midland, and highland

Summary

Introduction

Child stunting, which is a chronic length or height growth deficit, has been a devastating public health problem in developing countries. In Ethiopia, stunting remains severe public health problem. Stunting is one of the most common markers of chronic undernutrition, which is a linear growth failure or inability to attain potential height for a particular age [1, 2]. It is considered as the overall best indicator of child well-being [3]. E study conducted in East Belessa district of Northwest Ethiopia reported that more than half (57.7%) of under-five children were stunted [6]. Reports showed that nearly half of the children were stunted in Northwest, Southern, and Eastern parts of the country [7,8,9]

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