Prevalence and Factors Associated with Malnutrition Among Children below five years:

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition causes about 5.6 million of 10 million child deaths per year, with severe malnutrition contributing to about 1.5 million of these deaths. Malnutrition is estimated to contribute to more than one third of all child deaths, although it is rarely listed as the direct cause. Contributing to more than half of deaths in children worldwide; child malnutrition was associated with 54% of deaths in children in developing countries in 2001. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the Prevalence and factors associated with malnutrition among children below five years in Saitoti District Hospital Kajiado County. Method: A descriptive cross sectional study was employed to determine the Prevalence and factors associated with malnutrition among children below five years in Saitoti District Hospital Kajiado County. A total of 207 children were selected using simple random sampling technique, a structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16. Result: From the assessment done, Age (P value of 0.030), number of children in the family (P value of 0.046), mothers’ education level (p value of 0.007), father education level (P value of 0.019), average monthly income (P value of 0.023), Seeking for health services (P value of 0.013), presence illness (p value of 0.008), age at which the baby was first given other food other than milk (P value of 0.023) and methods of feeding (p value of 0.009) and all the environemnatal factors were statistically associated with malnutrition in children below five years. Conclusion: malnutrition was at 7.2% for severe malnutrition and 12.1% for moderate malnutrition. 38.6% of the children were stunted for their age, 10.2% were wasted, and 19.8% were underweight for their age. Malnutrition among children below five years were influenced by Age, number of children in the family, mothers’ education level, father education level, average monthly income, Seeking for health services, presence illness , age at which the baby was first given other food other than milk, methods of feeding, safety of water source of water, residence and hand washing. Therefore, provision of proper information on child feeding was recommended to improve the risk of under nutrition in children below five years.