Determinants of Nutritional Status of Children in Ethiopia Using Multilevel Analysis
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Date
2008-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
TIllS study attempts to identify the determinants of nutritional status of children in Ethiopia.
The study focuses on children aged less than 59 months based on data from 2005 Ethiopia
Demograplllc and Heald, Survey. A total of 3095 children were included in dlls study. As the
outcome measure of nutritional status, stunting (an anthropometric index of height for age)
defined as a binary outcome is taken as the dependent variable. A preliminary univariate
analysis was used to see the percentage share of background variables wid, respect to the
nutritional status of children. In order to exarnine the clifferent factors of nutritional status,
multiple logistic regressions were employed. Moreover, a multilevel logistic regression
analysis is considered to identify the determinants of stunting in clllidren within regions as
well as between regions. The multivariate results using three logistic regressions for urban,
rural and national level samples revealed that the most important socioecononllc,
demographic, health and environmental factors related to nutritional status of children are
individual, parental, household and regional factors . The results inclicated that nutritional
status varies across regions and urban and rural divisions. Furthermore, the results indicated
that household economic status, mother's employment status, age of child, prececling birth
interval and source of drinking water are some of the factors that affect nutritional status of
children direcdy or indirecdy.
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Keywords
Determinants of Nutritional Status, Children in Ethiopia