Prevalence of malnutrition among preschool children (6-59 months) in Western Province, Kenya

Abstract

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.

Socioeconomic and demographic factors determining the underweight prevalence among children under-five in Punjab

“…are considerably lower in rural Punjab, therefore, the children from rural areas of Punjab found more like to be underweight than their urban counterparts. This finding is consistent with findings obtained by other authors [12,14,17].…”

“…In addition, education may change their traditional beliefs about diseases and taking care of their children. It also found consistent with several other similar studies [5,6,10,12,[14][15][16][17][18]. Furthermore, the risk of underweight is 18% lower in children whose mother possesses higher education than fathers with same educational qualification (Fig.…”

“…On the other hand, wealthier parents are more likely to afford hygienic food, healthier living conditions and better health-care that improves the child nutrition and overall health. Many other studies on child nutrition illustrate the similar results [5,10,[12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…They discovered that the socioeconomic status of family, maternal education and gender, ethnicity and age of children were closely linked with underweight prevalence. Some other authors [11][12][13][14][15][16] found that age and gender of children, child's malaria status, exclusive breastfeeding, child's vaccination status, maternal education, parent's access to media, ARI in children, poverty and the type of toilet used in household were strongly correlated with underweight.…”

Prevalence of Malnutrition and Associated Factors among Under-Five Children in Pastoral Communities of Afar Regional State, Northeast Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…In this study, the prevalence of stunting (43.1%) was similar to the national figure, 44.4% [22]. But, it was much higher than other studies done in Ethiopia like Somali region, 22.9% [31], Dollo Ado district, 34.4% [26], Gumbrit district, 24.0% [42], and other countries including Kenya, 28.9% [43], Sudan, 24.9% [44], and Mongolia [45]. It was also lower than the regional figure, 50.2% [22], Libo-kemekem, Ethiopia, 49.4% [46], and India, 74.2% [47].…”