Background Undernutrition in early childhood has irreversible and long-lasting implications. Hence, this study was aimed at assessing risk factors of child undernutrition. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 642 households with mothers to children pairs aged 6–59 months selected by a multistage systematic random sampling method. Child anthropometric measurements on weight were recorded using standardized and calibrated weighing scales. Weight-for-age was compared to the 2007 WHO growth reference by WHO Anthro software. Data were entered using Epi-Info and analyzed using SPSS. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between underweight children and their predictors; both crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were reported. Results One-fourth (25%) of the children were underweight. Child age (AOR: 2.36), gender (AOR: 1.82), illness (AOR: 0.09), maternal decision making power (AOR: 0.07), maternal education (AOR: 0.19), employment/occupation (AOR: 5.29), and household income (AOR: 4.16) were found to be independent and significant predictors of underweight children. Conclusion Significant proportion of the children were underweight. Maternal decision-making power persists as a strong predictor of children's weight. Therefore, intervention programs focusing on improving mothers' decision-making power on child nutrition would contribute to the efforts towards alleviating the problem.

Background: Poor complementary feeding practice to infants is one of risk factors for child undernutrition in Ethiopia. This would vary across the culturally and socioeconomically diverse settings in this country. Thus, this study was aimed to determine the proportion of timely initiated complementary feeding practice of women to their children aged 6-23 months in rural Soro district in Southwest Ethiopia. Methods: A community based crossectional survey was conducted in Soro district from August to September in 2015. Randomly selected 543 women having children aged 6-23 months were the final sampling units for this study. First, local administrative units (kebeles) of residents were randomly selected from such lists in the district. Secondly, the sample size was proportionally allocated to each selected kebele by population sizes. Individual households were selected by systematic random technique. Data was collected by using a structured questionnaire through face to face interview. Descriptive statistics was done for univariate results, and we applied bivariate logistic regression to look for crude association, and multivariate logistic regression to model predictors with effect measures and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Statistical significance was decaled at P < 0.05. Results: The proportion of timely initiated complementary feeding was 34.3% at 95%CI: (30.31, 38.29) in this study. Secondary and above education levels of respondents (AOR = 2.25 95%CI: 1.17, 4.30) and husbands (AOR = 2.33 at 95% CI: 1.06, 5.14), and maternal Postnatal Care visits (AOR = 1.94 at 95% CI: 1.19, 3.16) were found independent predictors for timely initiated complementary feeding practice in this study. Conclusions: Timely complementary feeding practice in the study area was low compared to the standard recommends for it. Education in general and equipping child bearing women with specific messages on Infant and Child Feeding Practices may improve infant and child feeding practice in the area. Optimizing utilization of Postnatal Care by post partum women and including specific advices on complementary feeding are recommended.

Background. Adolescent girls were given little health and nutrition attention. Focusing on adolescent girls’ nutrition prior to conception is one way to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among adolescent girls in rural Damot Sore District, Southern Ethiopia. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2017. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 729 adolescent girls. Structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on different variables. Weight and height were measured by using a well-calibrated digital Seca scale and portable stadiometer by trained data collectors. Height-for-age (HFA) and body mass index-for-age (BMIFA) z-scores were calculated using WHO AnthroPlus software as indicators of stunting and thinness, respectively. Wealth index was generated by using principal component analysis (PCA), and based on the results, household wealth index/status was converted into tertiles and categorized as higher/rich, medium, and lower/poor. Descriptive statistics, bivariable, and multivariable logistic regression analysis were done. Strength of association of variables was presented by odds ratio along with its 95% CI. Results. The prevalence of stunting and thinness among adolescent girls was 29.6% (95% CI = 26.6%, 32.8%) and 19.5% (95% CI = 16.7%, 22.3%), respectively. Being in older adolescence (AOR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.08, 3.92), mother occupation (farmer and government employee) ((AOR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.31, 4.33) and (AOR = 3.05, 95% CI = 1.35, 6.92)), mother education (secondary and above) ((AOR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.28, 0.98) and (AOR = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.69)), and household wealth index (poor) (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI = 1.29, 2.92) were significantly associated with stunting. Father education (primary and secondary) ((AOR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.31, 0.77) and (AOR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.26, 0.78)), mother education (primary) (AOR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.37, 0.87), and meal frequency (<2/day) (AOR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.12, 3.13) were significantly associated with thinness. Conclusion. The prevalence of stunting and thinness among adolescent girls was moderate, when compared to the prevalence reported in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, it was a major public health problem, when compared to the national nutrition baseline survey reports in Ethiopia. Parental education was a significant predictor of both stunting and thinness among adolescent girls. Thus, initiation of routine screening, promotion of education, and implementation of evidence based community nutrition programmes required to be improved.