Prevalence and factors associated with undernutrition among under-five children in Gairo district, Morogoro, Tanzania.
Loading...
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
In Tanzania, undernutrition in children under the age of five years is a significant public
health concern. Despite efforts made to combat undernutrition still Tanzania has the highest
prevalence of undernutrition. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and
associated factors of undernutrition among children under-five years of age in Gairo district,
Morogoro region. In three areas of the Gairo district, 300 children under the age of five years
and their mothers or guardians participated in a cross-sectional household survey. A semi-
structured questionnaire was used and anthropometric measurements were taken using
standard procedures and techniques. The number of food groups consumed by children the
day before were from 0 to 7, they were added up to create a dietary diversity score. A score
of four or more food groups was then utilized as the minimum dietary diversity. The
prevalence of undernutrition was assessed using the standard measures of stunting,
wasting, and underweight utilizing the low indices of HAZ, WAZ, and WHZ. To determine the
rate of undernutrition in the district, children were divided into distinct anthropometric failure
categories using a composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF), which was calculated
using the low indices of HAZ, WAZ, and WHZ. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals
and p-values of 0.05 or less were used to identify factors associated with undernutrition.
According to this study, the prevalence of stunting was 54.3% (severe stunting 26.3% and
moderate stunting 28%), underweight 23.3% (severe underweight 7% and moderate
underweight 16.3%) and wasting 3.7% (severe wasting 1.3% and moderate wasting 2.4%).
%). The main factors that showed positive association were; maternal occupation was
associated with stunting (p = 0.002) and underweight (p = 0.026). The age of the child was
linked with stunting (p = 0.030), the age of the mother during pregnancy was connected with
being underweight (p = 0.046), and the area of residence was associated with stunting
(p = 0.000) and underweight (p = 0.008). The CIAF showed a prevalence of undernutrition of
57.3%, with children experiencing single failure at a rate of 105 (61%), double failures at a
rate of 62 (36%) and triple failures at a rate of 5 (2.9%). Factors that were significantly
associated with CIAF were the nearest health facility (p = 0.014; OR: 0.504 (0.291-0.873)),
location of delivery (p = 0.000; OR: 0.717 (0.107-0.490)), and water supply (p = 0.001; OR:
0.452 (0.283-0.722)) , type of latrine used (p = 0.000; OR: 21.338 (9.807-46.427)),
household solid waste disposal method (p = 0.012; OR: 1.806 (0.682-1.964)) , birth weight
(p = 0.000; OR: 5.400 (2.625-11.109)) and marital status (p = 0.00; OR: 0.403 (0.240-
0.676)). Therefore, Governmental and non-governmental nutritional and health interventions
that aim at the whole regions throughout districts are required, emphasizing enhancing the
living conditions of children by ensuring that, they have equal access to food, water, and
health care resources.
Description
Masters Dissertations
Keywords
undernutrition, under-five children, Gairo district, Morogoro, dietary diversity