Assessment and Comparison of Patterns of Malnutrition and its Determinants between Internally Displaced and Indigenous under five Children in Amuru District,Horo Guduru Wollega Zone,Oromia Region,March ,2013.
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Date
2013-03
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Introduction - Without proper nutrition, children are susceptible to more frequent and severe
childhood illnesses, stunted growth, developmental delays, and death. Previous studies show that
the prevalence of undernutrition (stunting, wasting and underweight) is generally higher among
children with resettled (internally displaced) families compared to those of permanent residents.
Objective - The objective of this study is to assess and compare nutritional status and identify its
determinant factors among internally displaced and indigenous children of age 6-59 months in
Amuru District, Horo Guduru Wollega Zone, West Oromia region.
Method - A community based comparative cross sectional study was conducted from March to
April 2013. Structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on
demographic and economic factors and child care practices. Information on anthropometric
indices was also collected using well-calibrated weighing scale and height measuring board.
Stratified sampling procedure was employed to select the required households. A total of 891
children, 442 from Internally Displaced Peoples and 449 from Indigenous communities were
selected from eight kebeles by systematic sampling techniques.
Data entry was done with Epi info version 3.5.3 which was then exported to SPSS version 20
statistical package for analysis. The 2006 WHO standard was used to convert height and weight
measurements into Z-scores. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analysis were
used as appropriate.
Results – A slightly higher percentage of children aged 6-59 months among IDPs had stunting
compared to those from Indigenous communities (52.9% versus 51.3%) although the difference
was not statistically significant (p- value > 0.05). In contrast, there was a marked difference in
the rate of wasting in the two populations (21% among IDPs, 7.1% among indigenous) (p- value
< 0.05). Similarly, the percentage of children who were categorized as underweight was much
higher among IDPs (36.8%) compared to Indigenous communities (11.8%) (P-value < 0.05). Sex
of child (being male), younger children and children who had been on bottle feeding were
significantly associated with stunting in both children of IDPs and Indigenous communities.
Internal displacement was found to be a significant predictor of wasting [AOR: 95% CI: 2.4 (1.4, 4.1)] and under-weight [AOR: 95%CI: 2.4 (1.4, 3.9)] even after controlling for factors such as
age of child, immunization, lack of farming lands, monthly income, parent’s education,
availability of latrine and not having enough food in the households.
Conclusions and Recommendations -The study revealed that child malnutrition is a major
public health challenge in both IDPs and Indeginous communities of Oromia region. However
prevalence of underweight and wasting were particularly more pronounced among children of
IDPs compared to those of indigenous populations. Factors related to socio-demographic, access
to sanitary facilities and health service including being male, younger children, bottle feeding,
non-immunized children, not having farming lands, uneducated parents, not having latrine and
presence of diarrhea in the two weeks preceding the survey were identified as significant
predictors of the three forms of childhood malnutrition (stunting, wasting and under-weight).
Based on the findings of the present survey, we recommend that policy makers consider the
status of displacement of communities in priority setting and designing nutrition programs as
they exhibit increased vulnerability to undernutrition and its negative consequences.
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Keywords
Malnutrition,children