Peer-reviewed article

Investigating the contextual drivers and factors impacting child growth failure in mining communities: A Structural Equation Modeling approach.

Herbert Tato Nyirenda, David Mulenga, Hilda Nyambe-Silavwe · 10 Jun 2025

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate contextual drivers impacting child growth-failure. STUDY DESIGN: Employed a cross-sectional study design. METHODS: The study Comprised a random sample of 781 under-five children and their caregivers. Structured interviews were conducted with caregivers, and anthropometric measurements were taken from the children. Bivariate chi-square, Structural Equation Modeling and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Over half (51 %) of the children were female. On average, households consisted of 6.1 ± 2.7 SD persons. Primary caregivers had an average age of 24.2 ± 9.4 while the children's average age was 21.3 ± 15.7 SD months. The average height of children was 80.4 ± 13.7 SD with a height-for-age Z-Score of 0.2 ± 4.9 SD. Further, 35 % of children experience child growth failure. Drivers include; age-caregiver [AOR = 1.04, 95 % CI = 1.028-1.056], high-school education [AOR = 0.24, 95 % CI = 0.089-0.677], unemployment-housewife [AOR = 0.45, 95 % CI = 0.226-0.901], feeding-strategies [AOR = 0.39, 95 % CI = 0.226-0.663] and cooking-duration [AOR = 2.16, 95 % CI = 1.131-4.129]. CONCLUSION: Child growth failure remains a concern, with individual and contextual-level factors identified as significant contributors and thus crucial to take them into account when designing nutrition interventions in vulnerable communities.