Prevalence of Malnutrition and Associated Factors Among Under-Five Children Visiting Wolaita Sodo University Hospital, Wolaita sodo, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is a state of nutrition in which a deficiency or an excess of energy, protein, and other nutrients which cause measurable adverse  effects on tissue body form for function  and clinical outcome .Children are most vulnerable to malnutrition in developing countries because of low dietary intakes, lack of appropriate care, and inequitable distribution of food within the household. Malnutrition remains one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children throughout the world. Malnutrition in Ethiopia, in the form of stunting, underweight and wasting was identified as 44%, 29% and 10% in children under five. The magnitude and various associated factors were not clearly known in the study area. Objective: To assess the prevalence of malnutrition and associated factors among under-five children at wolaita soddo university hospital, Wolaita Sodo, SSNPR, EthiopiaMethods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June 2016 in Wolaita Sodo town, southern Ethiopia. Data were collected from 123 respondents, who visited WSUH under-five OPD using pre tested structured questionnaires and measuring weight, MUAC and height of children. Result: A total of 123 respondents were included in the study giving the response rate 100%. From the total 123 respondents 28(22.8%) are stunting, 11(8.9%) are wasting, 6(4.9%) are under weight. The prevalence of Malnutrition is 25.2%,and out of this  stunting ,wasting , and underweight were 90.3%,35.5 % and 19.4% respectively, and 29% 12.9%,3.2% are kwashiorkor, marasmic and ,marasmic-kwash respectively. The larger (54.8%) prevalence of PEM was found in rural.Conclusion: The prevalence of PEM among under-five children among those attending under- five OPD at WSUH is relatively high. The finding of this study confirmed that demographic and socio-economic factors and many independent variables have significant association with PEM.

Keywords: malnutrition, PEM, and prevalence