Abstract
Undernutrition is the most difficult and widespread public health concern in low-income nations including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the associated risk factors of stunting and wasting among children aged 6–59 months in Jima Geneti district, Western Oromia, Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 children from December 1 to 28, 2020. A multiple-stage sampling method was performed to select children from each kebele. Anthropometric measurements were taken, and the nutritional status was generated using WHO Anthro v. 3.2.1. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS version 20.0. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify the associated risk factors of stunting and wasting among children in the study area. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The study results showed that the prevalence of stunting and wasting among children was 27% and 11.8%, respectively. The findings of this study also revealed that the prevalence of household food insecurity and poor dietary diets was 19.6% and 52.2%, respectively. Low wealth status (AOR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.1, 5.55) and poor dietary diets (AOR = 4.7; 95% CI: 2.5, 8.83) were associated risk factors for stunting. However, child meal frequency (AOR = 3.9; 95% CI: 1.23, 12.6), and children who did feed leftover food (AOR = 2.75; 95% CI: 1.02, 7.44) were associated risk factors for wasting. Poor dietary diets (AOR = 2.65; 95% CI: 1.06, 6.66) were also associated risk factors for wasting. The findings of this study concluded that the prevalence of stunting and wasting was high in the study area. Therefore, addressing family-level risk factors which are major drivers of children's nutritional status is crucial to ensure the nutritional status of children.
Highlights
The prevalence of stunting and wasting among children under five years of age was 29.1% and 6.3%, respectively [1]
A community-based crosssectional study design was performed for this study. is procedure was reproduced from a previous study conducted in Jima Geneti district, Ethiopia [23]
All children aged 6–59 months found in the study area, Jima district was the target for the study, whereas the study population consisted of a sample of all households with 6–59 months old children who were residing in randomly selected kebeles
Summary
The prevalence of stunting and wasting among children under five years of age was 29.1% and 6.3%, respectively [1]. One-third of all deaths in children are due to acute and chronic undernutrition [2]. A substantially higher estimated prevalence of undernutrition was found in Africa, Southern Asia, and Southeast Asia than global average estimates [1]. In Ethiopia, it has been reported that the prevalence of stunting and wasting was 37% and 7%, respectively [3]. Undernutrition causes morbidity and mortality among children, and food insecurity is more prevalent [4]. Its high rates may pose a significant obstacle to achieving better child health and nutritional outcomes [5]
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