Peer-reviewed article
Predictors for the prevalence of under-nutrition, wasting and stunting of 3 to 12 years school aged children in the Asella Luther Child Development Project - Oromiyaa, Ethiopia
Teshome Bekele Elema ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined malnutrition among 3-12 year-old school children in the Asella Luther Child Development Project in Ethiopia's Oromia region. Researchers measured 217 children using anthropometric assessments and clinical examination, finding that 23% were severely underweight, 23% severely stunted, and 16% severely wasted. Key risk factors included incomplete vitamin A supplementation, missing vaccinations, female sex, and lower maternal education. The prevalence was lower than regional estimates, suggesting the project may be having a protective effect.
Key points
- 23% of children were severely underweight, 23% severely stunted, and 16% severely wasted
- Vitamin A supplementation status was a significant predictor of underweight status (AOR=1.298)
- Vaccination completion was protective against underweight (AOR=0.379)
- Female children had higher odds of being underweight than males (AOR=2.533)
- 70-100% of children had not received diphtheria, tetanus, influenza and hepatitis A vaccinations
Limitations
The study is descriptive and cross-sectional, making it impossible to establish causality or determine whether the associations are due to confounding factors. The document does not provide information about the study population's representativeness, potential selection bias, or confounding variables not adjusted for in the analysis.
Abstract
Background: Malnutrition remains a major public health problem in developing countries. In Oromia region prevalence of child malnutrition indicated that 29.1% with 6.6% severe underweight, 14.1% of the children are wasted (3.5% severe wasting) and 53.6% of the children are stunted with 17.1% severe stunting. Primary school age is a dynamic period of physical and mental development. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) paid due attention to malnutrition, but still constant. Objective: The objective of the research was to determine the prevalence of undernutrition; Wasting and Stunting for children registered in Lutheran project and associated factors. Methods: Project based case studies of 384 children and cross sectional study design were applied to determine the magnitude of malnutrition using Semi-structured questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and clinical examination of 217 samples. Binary logistic regression was carried out, using Odds Ratio to determine the strength of predictors. Results: From socio-demographic characteristics 61.28% of the children moderate while 5.98% of them were extremely strong academically. Clinical examination showed only 9.4% of was moderately malnourished. 70.94 to 100% of the children were not taken the diphtheria tetanus, influenza diseases and hepatitis A vaccination. Based on Weight for Age, Height for Age and Weight for Height; 23%, children were severely undernutrition, 23% severely stunted and 16% severely wasted where 47%, 34% and 19% under a risk of undernutrition, stunting and wasting respectively. 60.68% of children were not received vitamin A regularly. Conclusion: Children who’s not completed Vitamin A Versus completed (AOR=1.298), completed vaccination (AOR=0.379), Female/male (AOR=2.533) underweight. The finding indicated that explanation of Z-score is important that explaining the malnutrition status of the children. Maternal/guardians educational status was associated with children’s underweight. Prevalence of malnutrition was occurred in less percent than the regional data. Breakfast is widely acknowledged to be the most important meal of the day and awareness creation also very important for the community to not miss breakfast possibly.