Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Acute Malnutrition in Children Aged 6-59 Months In Aksum Town. A Comparative Study between Health Centers and Idp Camps

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated risk factor of acute malnutrition among age 6-59 months children in two public health center and two internal displaced people (IDP) camps in Aksum town. Comparative cross-sectional study was conducted. Random sampling technique was used to select 165 mother child paired. Semi structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurement were used to collect data. The data was entered using EPI DATA version 3.1 and analysis was done by SPSS version 24 and ENA SMART 2011 software were used for anthropometry calculation. All 165(100%) participants responded on this study. The prevalence of this finding indicates that 73.3% of the children had (wasted) acute malnutrition. The level of nutritional status found as 42(25.4%), 79(47.9%) and 44(26.7%) of the participants children were sever, moderate and normal respectively. Based on the multivariable logistic regression analysis, such factors as family income, mothers education, feeding colostrum, started feeding complementary foods, vitamin A-rich foods or supplement, feeding frequency, Vaccination rate and maternal ANC follow up were significantly associated to wasting. This study revealed extremely high prevalence of acute malnutrition among age 6 - 59 month children in the study area.