Magnitude of under nutrition and determinants among under-five children in Gondar city administration, Amhara Regional State, Northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

Child nutritional status is an essential component of a country’s overall human development. It continues to be widespread in a population of more than 200 million children under five (one in three children) in developing countries. To improve the nutritional status and living conditions in communities, it is necessary to determine the nature, magnitude and cause of malnutrition. To assess the magnitude and factors associated with nutritional status in children under 5 years of age in Gondar city administration, Gondar town. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 796 children paired with their mothers. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify determinants of nutritional status. The degree of association was assessed using OR and 95% CI. Statistical association was declared as a p-value less than 0.05. The prevalence of severe stunting, underweight and wasting was 20.2%, 6% and 3.9% respectively. The presence of diarrhea, being male by sex, uneducated fathers and the total number of children ever born to a mother were significantly associated with underweight. The presence of diarrhea, being male by sex, pre-lacteal feeding and not using family planning methods were significantly associated with stunting. As the prevalence of malnutrition was high, it is recommended that intervention should focus on prevention and control of diarrheal disease through improving access to safe and adequate water supply, immunization, housing, sanitation and hygiene practices and on improving promotion of nutrition education and utilization of family planning.