Socioeconomic inequality in childhood undernutrition in Ethiopia; a secondary analysis of the 2016 Ethiopia demographic and health survey
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Date
2023-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
According to the income position of the country, the proportion of affected children varies. More
than two third of stunted children and almost three quarters of wasted children reside in lower-
middle income nations, where less than half of all children under the age of five lives. Ethiopia is
one of the nations that is most afflicted by child undernourishment and is not on pace to achieve
SDG target 2.2 by 2030.
The study used secondary data analyses of EDHS 2016 data sets in order to assess the
socioeconomic inequality in undernutrition and to explore the inequality by key socio-
demographic characteristics.
The background characteristics of the population were presented via tables and graphs and
descriptive statistics. Graphs were also used to depict the trend, and regional variance was also
discussed. Due to the two stage sampling procedure utilized in the EDHS data set, sample
weights were used in all analyses. The analysis made use of Stata version 16.
The three-stage inequality study for stunting, wasting, and underweight used the concentration
curves, CIs, and decomposition of the concentration index. Concentration indices were used to
explain the disparity in concentration curves after concentration curves for stunting, wasting, and
underweight were shown.
In order to investigate the elements that contributed to the socioeconomic inequality in
undernutrition, a socioeconomic decomposition analysis was lastly conducted.
Both the concentration curve and concentration index showed that the inequality in
undernutrition by Stunting (-0.147), underweight (-0.143) and wasting (-0.054), all this
indicating that undernutrition is more concentrated among the poorest than the better-off
households. This inequality varies between region and residence. Therefore, FDRE should work
to minimize this inequality and the variation among residence and regions.
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Keywords
Socioeconomic inequality, Childhood, Undernutrition, Ethiopia