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Healthy nutritional status is one of the pinpoint to be observed in assessing health status of an individual. It is also used as a direct and indirect indicator body's strength to defend unhealthy happenings. Health statuses of under-five children are among the under-nutrition vulnerable population segments. Thus, this study was conducted to assess factors associated with nutritional status of under-five children in Yirgalem town, southern Ethiopia. A kebele (Lower administrative Unit) was selected using lottery method from kebeles in the town. A community based cross-sectional study design was employed on a total of 398 child and mother/caregiver pairs selected through simple random sampling. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire, analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-squared (χ2) test was used to identify associated independent variables. Z-scores for nutritional statuses were generated using WHO Anthro software. The result revealed that the prevalence of wasting, stunting, underweight and overweight were 2.01%, 35.17 %, 5.27% and 23.36% respectively. Immunization status (X 2 =0.004, p= 0.05) and fathers' educational status (X 2 =0.018, p=0.05) were found statistically significant associated with underweight and stunting respectively. Wasting, stunting and underweight are public health nutritional deficits of children under the age of five in Yirgalem town, Ethiopia. Dimension and degree of already identified associated variables better be addressed using sound study protocol with strong epidemiological and statistical considerations to address limitations of this study before forecast of interventions to reduce under-nutrition in the study area.

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