Stunting and Its Associated Factors among Early Adolescent School Girls of Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia: A School‐Based Cross‐Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction. Stunting is a crucial indicator of long-term chronic undernutrition that reflects a failure to reach a linear growth. Adolescent girls are potentially at a higher risk of stunting as they are traditionally married at an early age in low-income countries. In Ethiopia, stunting has mostly been examined in early childhood, with limited information at the early adolescent age. Therefore, this study is aimed at determining the prevalence of stunting and its associated factors among early adolescent school girls age 10 to 14 in Gondar town. Methods. We conducted a school-based cross-sectional study. A multistage sampling method was used to sample 662 adolescent girls in selected primary schools. A pretested, structured, and interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the required data. Stata Version 14 and WHO Anthro-plus software were used to analyze the data. The bivariable and multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with stunting. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated, and a p value ≤ 0.05 was considered to declare statistically significant variables. Results. The prevalence of stunting was 27.5% [95% CI: 25.5%-29.5%]. The odds of stunting were found to be higher among grade 5 students [AOR; 95% CI: 1.90; 1.13-3.20], those who reported a daily meal frequency of less than three [AOR; 95% CI: 2.37; 1.60-3.50], and those who were from food-insecure families [AOR; 95% CI: 2.52; 1.70-3.73]. Adolescent girls whose mothers were government employees [AOR; 95% CI: 0.48; 0.26–0.89] or merchants [AOR; 95% CI: 0.43; 0.28–0.67] were less likely to be stunted compared to those whose mothers were housewives. Conclusion. Stunting among early adolescent girls is found to be a moderate public health problem. A school-based nutritional program might be helpful to reduce stunting in this group of adolescent girls.

Knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among secondary school students in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia

“…It has twelve (12) sub-cities [ 17 ]. The town has 15 secondary schools; 12 governmental and 3 private schools [ 18 ].…”

Kejadian Stunting Pada Balita

“…Intervensi diberikan pada semua tahapan kehidupan, baik pada sektor kesehatan ataupun sektor non-kesehatan, melibatkan berbagai pihak meliputi pemerintah, pihak swasta, pihak masyarakat sipil dan PBB menggunakan tindakan bersama-sama untuk meningkatkan status gizi, baik dalam jangka pendek (spesifik) maupun jangka panjang (sensitif) (12). Hasil penelitian Tamrat dkk mengatakan bahwa remaja perempuan memiliki potensi risiko yang lebih tinggi terkena stunting, terutama karena cenderung menikah pada usia dini di negara-negara yang memiliki pendapatan rendah (13). Sehingga diperlukan upaya untuk meningkatkan pendidikan perempuan, memastikan asupan zat besi dalam bentuk tablet yang memadai selama proses kehamilan, dan mendorong partisipasi dari keluarga besar saat merawat anak (14).…”

Correlation Mothers’ Knowledge about Stunting and Exclusive Breastfeeding Behavior

“…Permasalahan mengenai kejadian stunting pada anak di sebagian negara berkembang menjadi perhatian utama. Stunting merupakan kondisi yang mempengaruhi penyakit kronis jangka panjang dari kekurangan gizi yang mencerminkan kegagalan pertumbuhan karena kekurangan makanan yang berkepanjangan selama tahap awal kehidupan (Tamrat, Yeshaw, & Dadi, 2020). Stunting dapat diartikan juga sebagai kondisi gagal tumbuh kembang anak pada 1000 hari pertama kehidupan (HPK) akibat kekurangan gizi kronik.…”