Prevalence and predictors of undernutrition among underfive children in Arusha District, Tanzania

Abstract

Childhood undernutrition is a global health challenge impacting child growth and survival rates. This deficit in nutritional status contributes to the increasing chronic disease prevalence and economic burden in individuals and throughout developing contexts. A community‐based cross‐sectional study was conducted in Arusha District of Tanzania to determine the prevalence and predictors of undernutrition in 436 children. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on demographic and socio‐economic factors as well as feeding practices and prevalence of preventable childhood diseases. Anthropometric data were collected through the measurement of length/height and weight of all children. The prevalence of undernutrition was estimated based on Z‐scores indices below −2SD of the reference population for weight for age (underweight), height for age (stunting), and weight for height (wasting). Fifty percent, 28%, and 16.5% of the children were stunted, underweight, and wasted, respectively. The age above 2 years and being a male were associated with stunting. The age above 2 years, nonexclusive breastfeeding children, and living at Seliani and Oturumeti were associated with being underweight. Similarly, morbidity, none exclusively breastfed children, living at Oturumeti, and being born to a mother 35 years and above were associated with wasting. In this study, we found the prevalence of child undernutrition in Arusha District is high in comparison with national and regional trends and appears to be associated with being a male. It is recommended that nutritionists and health planners should focus on these key predictors when planning nutrition interventions to address the problem of undernutrition among underfive children in Arusha District.

The burden and correlates of childhood undernutrition in Tanzania according to composite index of anthropometric failure

“…Children in the youngest age group of 0-6 months had a signi cantly lower risk of failure than in older age groups of above 6 months. These results are consistent with many other studies from other countries [15,24] as well as in Tanzania [2,22,23]. This may be because of either poor feeding practice of the older children, or sometimes vulnerability to diseases when a child grows from 6 months onwards.…”

“…According to the UNICEF conceptual framework [21], undernutrition can be caused by insu cient diet intake, infections, poor breastfeeding or inadequate complementary foods. To date, numerous studies have been conducted to examine the determinants of undernutrition in Tanzania [2,[22][23][24] and elsewhere [15,17,[25][26][27]. However, available studies in the country have used conventional indices, rather than aggregated indicator of CIAF.…”

Association Between Food Insecurity and Key Metabolic Risk Factors for Diet-Sensitive Non-Communicable Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…A large proportion of the studies (n = 10 studies) was conducted in urban settings, [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] and four studies were conducted in rural settings only. [34][35][36][37] One study was conducted in a periurban 38 and one study in a semi-rural setting. 39 The remaining six studies recruited participants from both rural and urban settings.…”

“…[40][41][42][43][44][45] Overall, the studies selected for inclusion (n = 22 studies) involved a total of 26 609 participants, 12 453 (46.8%) participants were males, and one study recruited only women of reproductive age living in informal settlements in Accra, Ghana 29 . The distribution of the rest of the studies by countries was as follows: 4 from Ethiopia, 25,27,40,41 ; 1 Nigeria, 24 ; 1 Madagascar, 26 ; 3 Ghana, 29,38,39 ; 1 Zambia, 37 ; 2 Tanzania, 28,35 ; 1 Malawi, 34 ; 1 Cameroon, 33 ; 2 Sudan, 30,31 ; 1 Burkina Faso, 42 ; 1 Kenya, 32 ; 1 Botswana, 45 and 3 studies from South Africa 36,43,44 . Figure 2 shows the study distribution from the four regions of sub-Saharan Africa, with only 1 study from Central Africa 33 and…”

Inappropriate Household Water, Sanitation and Hygiene practices are associated with Wasting for children under 5 years in Rural Tanzania: Evidence from the 2015/2016 Survey

“…The magnitude of wasting is substantial and persistent in the Sub-Saharan Africa [5] including Tanzania, where by a lot of children are suffering from the effects of acute malnutrition [6]. Different studies in Tanzania reported a high prevalence of wasting among children of under-five years [7][8][9]. The 2015 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey report showed that wasting was more common in Zanzibar Island than in Tanzania Mainland (7% versus 4%).…”