Malnutrition being one of the major public health problems in developing countries, it is still unacceptably high and progress to reduce it in most regions of the world is low. In Eastern Africa region, stunting and being underweight is estimated at 48 and 36% and are expected to increase over the next decade. There is limited information available on the prevalence of malnutrition in this area. This study determined nutritional status, and examined correlates of stunting among the children. This was a cross-sectional study undertaken among 125 preschoolers in western province, drawn from 37 clusters. For each cluster a total of 10 households were selected using systematic simple random sampling. Data were collected on nutritional status, socioeconomic status, food consumption and current malaria infection status. The prevalence of stunting (Z-scores for height for age [HAZ] <-2), wasting (Z-scores for weight for height [WHZ] < -2) and being underweight (Z-scores for weight for age [WAZ] < -2) was 28.9, 1.7 and 6.6%, respectively. Stunting was associated with poverty (OR=4.29, 95% CI: 1.06-17.36, p= 0.037) and lack of consumption of solid foods that include ripe mangoes, pawpaw and guavas (OR=3.15, 95% CI: 1.11-8.94, p=0.025), fish (OR=4.1, 95% CI: 1.15-14.61, p=0.021) and eggs (OR=4.42, 95% CI: 0.97-20.08, p=0.039). Child growth is a good indicator of nutritional status of both the individual and the community. The study demonstrates a high prevalence of stunting. Given the acute and long term consequences of malnutrition, interventions aimed at reducing child malnutrition in such a population should focus on all children less than 5 years of age.

IntroductionIron deficiency is a major public health concern. Globally, iron deficiency ranks number 9 and is responsible for about 60% of all anemia cases among preschool children. In Africa iron deficiency is 43-52% while in Kenya, children under 5 years constitute the largest burden with 69% of them being deficient. There is limited iron deficiency data in Kenya. This study determined haemoglobin levels, serum ferritin levels, nutritional status and P.falciparum malaria infection in preschool children.MethodsA household cross sectional study was undertaken among 125 preschoolers in Western province, drawn from 37 clusters. Systematic random sampling was used for sample selection. Data was collected using pretested structured questionnaires, entered in Microsoft package. Data analysis was done in Statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20 using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression and differences were considered significant at P < 0.05.ResultsThe prevalence of iron deficiency (Serum ferritin <12mg/l), anaemia (Hb < 110g/l) and plasmodium falciparum malaria were 20.8%, 25% and 6.8% respectively. There was a significant association between iron deficiency and anaemia (OR = 3.43, 95% CI: 1.33-8.84, p = 0.008). A preschool child with anaemia was 3.43 times likely to be iron deficient compared to a preschool child who was not anaemic.ConclusionIron deficiency, anaemia and plasmodium falciparum malaria was prevalent among preschool children. The findings revealed a significant association between iron deficiency and anaemia. Therefore effective interventions to improve iron status will have large health benefits by greatly reducing anaemia in preschool children.