THE PREVALENCE OF ACUTE MALNUTRITION AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG INSTITUTIONALIZED SCHOOL-AGED ORPHANED AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN JIGJIGA TOWN, SOMALI REGION, EASTERN, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background: Acute malnutrition (wasting) poses a major threat to a child's life and development, as well as an increased chance of mortality. Orphans are at higher risk of developing malnutrition because of poor food provision and a lack of medical and social care. However, there is a dearth of evidence on the nutritional status of school-age orphans and vulnerable children in our study area. Objective: To assess the prevalence of acute malnutrition and its associated factors among institutionalized school-aged orphaned and vulnerable children in Jigjiga Town, Somali region, eastern Ethiopia, from June 15-30, 2024. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 161 randomly selected school-aged orphaned and vulnerable children aged 6–12 years living in Jigjiga Boarding and Jafar Boarding schools in Jigjiga Town, Somali regional state, eastern Ethiopia. Data was collected using structured and pretested questionnaires and anthropometric measurements. Data was entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23 for data cleaning and analysis. Multivariate analysis using a logistic regression model was computed to identify factors associated with acute malnutrition (wasting). Statistical significance was declared at p-value <0.05. Results: Overall, the prevalence of acute malnutrition (wasting) among institutionalized school-aged orphans and vulnerable children in the study area was 24.20 (95% CI: 18.19, 31.49). Factors such as ages between 6 and 7 years (AOR = 9.21, 95% CI: 1.40, 16.67), who had an acute illness in the past two weeks (AOR = 10.01, 95% CI: 2.83, 23.45), who did not eat breakfast yesterday (AOR = 4.33, 95% CI: 1.30, 14.44), and who never consumed vegetables and fruits (AOR = 9.55, 95% CI: 1.80, 1.51- 15.64) were significantly associated with acute malnutrition (wasting) among school-aged orphan children. Conclusions: - The finding from this study indicated that one out of four institutionalized school aged orphans and vulnerable children in the study area was wasted. Therefore, implementing programs of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMC) clinic, applying growth monitoring assessment regularly, and properly following and providing nutritional meals at orphan schools would be enormous in reducing and intervening in the acute malnutrition among orphan children.