Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, Ethiopia

IntroductionGlobally, more than 52 million under-five years old were wasted; One-third of these children live in Africa. Ethiopia is the seventh country among the ten top countries in which acute malnutrition (AM) is concentrated and currently 10% of under-five children are wasted. Even though Ethio...

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Main Authors: Nigusie Shifera, Aschalew Endale, Degfachew Debela, Tewodros Yosef
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Nutrition
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.1053928/full
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author Nigusie Shifera
Aschalew Endale
Degfachew Debela
Tewodros Yosef
author_facet Nigusie Shifera
Aschalew Endale
Degfachew Debela
Tewodros Yosef
author_sort Nigusie Shifera
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionGlobally, more than 52 million under-five years old were wasted; One-third of these children live in Africa. Ethiopia is the seventh country among the ten top countries in which acute malnutrition (AM) is concentrated and currently 10% of under-five children are wasted. Even though Ethiopia has implemented a variety of nutritional interventions, acute malnutrition is still prevalent and spreading at an alarming rate. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years of age.Materials and methodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 1 to 30, 2018 among 12 randomly selected kebeles. The sample sizes were proportionally allocated to the selected kebeles. A total of 457 mothers/caretakers of under-five children were interviewed using pre-tested structured questionnaires and anthropometric measurements of the children were taken using standard procedures. EPI data version 4.2 was used for data entry and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21 was used for statistical analysis. The World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro software was used to convert nutritional data indices. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. The level of significance was declared at a P-value < 0.05.ResultsThe prevalence of acute malnutrition is 19.91% (95%CI; 16.24%, 23.57%) among under-five children. Factors contributing to acute malnutrition were mothers with no antenatal care (ANC) visits [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.26, 95% CI 1.14–4.46], mothers who had no autonomy in decision-making (AOR = 2.42, 95% CI 1.42–4.12), children with diarrheal disease in the last 2 weeks preceding the survey (AOR = 2.07, 95% CI 1.19–3.59), and not feeding colostrum (AOR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.07–3.71).Conclusion and recommendationThe prevalence of acute malnutrition is high as compared to other findings in Ethiopia. Moreover, decision-making power, not feeding colostrum, no ANC visit, and a child's history of diarrhea were independent determinants of acute malnutrition. Therefore, the local health department and health extension workers should consider imparting health education for women on nutritional counseling and timely treatment for children with diarrhea. Empowering women's decision-making is also a key element in addressing wasting among under-five children.
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spelling doaj.art-90633c3ff8e8454da082e20fd17504072022-12-22T04:24:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Nutrition2296-861X2022-12-01910.3389/fnut.2022.10539281053928Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, EthiopiaNigusie Shifera0Aschalew Endale1Degfachew Debela2Tewodros Yosef3School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Mizan Tepi University, Mizan Teferi, EthiopiaPublic Health Department, Arsi University, Asella, EthiopiaPublic Health Emergency Department, Ethiopian Public Health Institutions, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Mizan Tepi University, Mizan Teferi, EthiopiaIntroductionGlobally, more than 52 million under-five years old were wasted; One-third of these children live in Africa. Ethiopia is the seventh country among the ten top countries in which acute malnutrition (AM) is concentrated and currently 10% of under-five children are wasted. Even though Ethiopia has implemented a variety of nutritional interventions, acute malnutrition is still prevalent and spreading at an alarming rate. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years of age.Materials and methodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 1 to 30, 2018 among 12 randomly selected kebeles. The sample sizes were proportionally allocated to the selected kebeles. A total of 457 mothers/caretakers of under-five children were interviewed using pre-tested structured questionnaires and anthropometric measurements of the children were taken using standard procedures. EPI data version 4.2 was used for data entry and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21 was used for statistical analysis. The World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro software was used to convert nutritional data indices. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. The level of significance was declared at a P-value < 0.05.ResultsThe prevalence of acute malnutrition is 19.91% (95%CI; 16.24%, 23.57%) among under-five children. Factors contributing to acute malnutrition were mothers with no antenatal care (ANC) visits [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.26, 95% CI 1.14–4.46], mothers who had no autonomy in decision-making (AOR = 2.42, 95% CI 1.42–4.12), children with diarrheal disease in the last 2 weeks preceding the survey (AOR = 2.07, 95% CI 1.19–3.59), and not feeding colostrum (AOR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.07–3.71).Conclusion and recommendationThe prevalence of acute malnutrition is high as compared to other findings in Ethiopia. Moreover, decision-making power, not feeding colostrum, no ANC visit, and a child's history of diarrhea were independent determinants of acute malnutrition. Therefore, the local health department and health extension workers should consider imparting health education for women on nutritional counseling and timely treatment for children with diarrhea. Empowering women's decision-making is also a key element in addressing wasting among under-five children.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.1053928/fullprevalenceacute malnutritionchildrenruralEthiopia
spellingShingle Nigusie Shifera
Aschalew Endale
Degfachew Debela
Tewodros Yosef
Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, Ethiopia
Frontiers in Nutrition
prevalence
acute malnutrition
children
rural
Ethiopia
title Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, Ethiopia
title_full Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, Ethiopia
title_fullStr Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, Ethiopia
title_short Acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under-five years in rural kebeles of Shashemene Oromia, Ethiopia
title_sort acute malnutrition and its contributing factors among children under five years in rural kebeles of shashemene oromia ethiopia
topic prevalence
acute malnutrition
children
rural
Ethiopia
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.1053928/full
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