UNDER NUTRITION AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG CHILDREN AGED 5-14 YEARS IN HARAMAYA DISTRICT DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY AND SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM HARAMYA UNIVERSITY, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background: Undernutrition makes the child more vulnerable to morbidity and mortality and has been linked to delayed mental development, poorer educational attainment and lower intellectual and physical abilities in adult life. There is limited community based evidence on under nutrition and factors associated in the study area, the majority of the previous local studies focused on investigating chronic malnutrition only and uses school based studies approach. Objective: To assess the prevalence of under nutrition and associated factors among children aged 5-14 years in Haramaya District Demographic and Health Survey and Surveillance System Haramya University, Eastern Ethiopia from June 30 to July 15, 2020 Method: Community based cross sectional study was conducted among 815 randomly selected children aged 5-14 years. The height and weight of the study subjects were measured via anthropometric measurements. Data was entered and cleaned using Epi-data version 3.1 and exported by STATA 14. 2 version for analysis. Height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) and BMI-for-age Z-scores (BAZ) for children and adolescents were calculated using the WHO Anthro Plus software version 1.0.4. Bi-variable and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were done to see the association between the dependent and independent variable. Results: The prevalence of stunting and thinness was found to be 22.4% [(95% CI: 19.7, 25.5] and 11.9% [(95% CI: 9.8, 14.3], respectively. Children being from poor households [AOR =1.60, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.42],Family size greater than three [AOR =1.71, 95% CI: 1.13, 2.60], and Dietary diversity score three or less food groups [AOR =1.5, 95% CI: 1.07, 2.13]were significantly associated withstunting. On the other hand, being in age range of 13-14 [AOR =2.25, 95% CI: 1.13, 4.47], Family size greater than three [AOR =2.60, 95% CI: 1.34, 5.03] and Dietary diversity score three or less food groups [AOR = 1.89, 95% CI :1.17, 3.04] were significantly associated with thinness. Conclusion: The finding of this study showed that there was high prevalence of stunting and thinness school children aged from 5-14 years old in Haramaya district. Therefore, all stakeholders should need to strengthen nutrition interventions that focus on factors affecting the nutritional status of children