Monitoring determinants of the prevalence of child malnutrition in Brazil according to indicators of the 2030 Agenda in the year 2022

Abstract

Objective: To select indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that determine child malnutrition (CM) in Brazil and to monitor the achievement of SDG targets by region in 2022. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, ecological study that used the Brazilian Sustainable Development indices and analyzed the 100 SDG monitoring indicators in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities. A decision tree was created and sensitivity analysis was performed to predict CM determinants. Data were analyzed using the χ² test at 5% significance level. Descriptive analyses and the decision tree were carried out using the R software. Results: The CM determinants according to percentage, most affected regions of the country, and impact order were: illiteracy in the population aged ≥15 years (Northeast), insufficient prenatal care (North), low birth weight (South), young women aged 15–24 years who neither study nor work (North and Northeast), and employed population aged 10–17 years (South). We observed an individual and cumulative effect on the CM prevalence, ranging from 1.73 to 15.1%, in Brazilian municipalities according to the occurrence and overlap of these indicators. Conclusion: The results denote that Brazil will not achieve the intended reduction of CM by 2025. There must be substantial investments in education and health mainly aimed at the maternal and child population and especially in the North and Northeast regions.