Abstract:
Background: Ethiopia has one of the highest child malnutrition rates in the world. Despite some improvements, approximately half of the children under five are still malnourished. Food insecurity is probably one of the determinant factors of malnutrition in developing countries; however its role remains unclear. Objective: To assess the prevalence of house hold food insecurity and its association with the nutritional status of children6-59 months of age in East Badawacho Woreda, SNNPR. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study wasconductedfromFebruary20-30, 2014on a sample of 508mother/child pairs of 6-59 month old children. Structured questionnaire was administered to caregivers of the study children. Anthropometric measurement on weight and height was taken from children aged 6-59 months and from their caregivers. Descriptive analysis was used to see the overall distribution of the study subject with the variables under study. Both bivariate and multivariate analysis (binary logistic regression) was used to identify factors associated with nutritional status of children. P value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Result: The prevalence of household food insecurity was 75.8%. The prevalence rates of stunting, underweight, and wasting among children were 45.6%, 26.3%, and 14.6%, respectively. Household food insecurity was significantly associated with underweight (AOR=3.82; CI=1.78-8.19) and stunting(AOR=6.7; CI=3.71-12.1)but not with wasting. In addition diarrhea(AOR=2.5; CI=1.52-4.13),health status during pregnancy(AOR=2.23; CI=1.27-3.94) and ANC visit(AOR=2.8; CI= 1.66-4.7) come out to be significant risk factors for underweight. Initiation of complementary feeding(AOR=2.41;CI=1.36-4.27) and child age(AOR=2.17;CI=1.11-4.28) were found to be associated with stunting. Also child sex(AOR=1.89; CI=1.01-3.54), diarrhea(AOR=2.28;CI=1.19-4.38), pre-lacteal feeding(AOR=5.28; CI=2.45-11.36),birth interval(AOR=3.44; CI=1.38-8.58) and ANC visit were found to be risk factors for wasting.
Conclusion and recommendation: Household food insecurity and the prevalence rates of stunting, underweight and wasting, among children 6 to 59 months was high and still malnutrition is major public health problem among children in the area. Interventions programs should focus on improving the household food security, on avoiding traditional feeding practices, on the prevention of diarrheal disease and tackle the problem of malnutrition.
