| dc.description.abstract | Background: Under nutrition among children below five years is a major public health
problem, especially in many low-income and middle- income countries. It is the underlying
cause of child mortality in about 45% of all deaths reported for children below 5 years of age.
Globally, about 7.7% of children are wasted, 24.5% are stunted and 15% are underweight. In
developing countries nearly one-third of children are underweight or stunted
Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of under nutrition and
associated factors among children below 5 years in Buswale Sub County.
Method: A descriptive cross sectional study was employed to determine the prevalence of
under nutrition and associated factors among children below 5 years in Buswale Sub County
so that ways can be devised on how to curb the childhood under nutrition. A total of 206
caretaker of under-five children in Buswale Sub County were included in this study using
simple random sampling procedure. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data
was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0, Chi-square test was used.
Result: From the assessment done, prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasted were
40.4% and 44.3% and 37.1% respectively , caretaker being in the age group of 10-19years
(OR=1.74, 0.03-4.36), 20-29years (1.35, 0.11-5.67), 30-39 years (1.64, 0.92-4.92); attained
primary education (1.74, 0.73-6.50), secondary (2.53, 0.93-12.80), tertiary (3.50, 0.69-11.44);
being single (OR=2.00, 0.19-9.59); peasant (.19, 1.07-6.53), employed (1.47, 0.02-3.23);
having 3-5 under five children in the household (2.16, 0.14-3.94 were independently
promoted under nutrition among children under-five.
Conclusion: childhood under nutrition was associated with caretakers’ age, caretakers’
education, caretaker occupation, marital status, and the number of under five children in the
household. Therefore, community based nutrition program should be established and
implemented at all community levels and there should be well trained man power. | en_US |
