Is undernutrition a public health issue yet?

What is it about?

Under-nutrition is a major public health concern among under-five children, especially in low- and middle-income countries like Ethiopia. Despite the Ethiopian government’s efforts, it remains a pressing issue among children. Prior studies often overlooked the exploration of under-nutrition across different residential settings and failed to apply composite measures of under-nutrition. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the prevalence of under-nutrition and its associated factors among under-five children in the urban and rural settings of Ethiopia, using a composite measure of under-nutrition.

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Why is it important?

In this study, the overall prevalence of under-nutrition among under-five children was 39.72% (95%CI: 38.35, 41.08), with 43.38% (95%CI: 41.80, 44.95) in rural areas and 27.56% (95%CI: 24.96, 30.15) in urban areas. Factors such as being female (AOR = 0.86, 95%CI: 0.75, 0.99), children having higher age, lower preceding birth interval, lower maternal age and education, low wealth status, region and lack of media exposure (AOR = 1.25, 95%CI: 1.05, 1.52) were significantly associated with increased likelihood of under-nutrition in rural areas. In urban areas, having lower maternal education (no education: AOR = 1.93, 95%CI: 1.11, 3.37; primary: AOR = 2.38, 95%CI: 1.45, 3.89), being in the higher age group, and larger family size (6+) (AOR = 2.25, 95%CI: 1.29, 3.93) were associated with increased likelihood of under-nutrition

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