Chronic Undernutrition and Associated Factors among School Age Children in South West Ethiopia, 2015

Background: Undernutrition remains to be a primary cause of morbidity and mortality among children in developing countries. School-age children are among the most commonly affected groups by chronic undernutrition. In Ethiopia, little is known about the magnitude of undernutrition in this older children, studies conducted in Addis Ababa indicated 31% of school age children were undernourished. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the magnitude of chronic undernutrition and identify the major factors associated with it that will guide a good intervention approach to halt the problem. Methods: A school based cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 376 school children at Aman Sub town, south-west Ethiopia. Simple random sampling technique was applied to select schools and participants. Structured and pretested questionnaire was used to assess Sociodemographic and other variables. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. For nutritional indices WHO Anthro plus was used. Results: Two-fifth (40.2%) and almost one-third (28.2%) of children were stunted and underweight respectively. Older age groups (10-14), boys, having illiterate and employed mothers, maternal age of < 20 years during birth, lower monthly income (<50USD), large family size (>8) and rural resident were associated with an increase in the odds of stunting. Likewise, occupation of the mother, meal frequency, family size, monthly income and presence of chronic diseases were significantly associated with underweight in children.Conclusion and Recommendation: chronic undernutrition in the form of stunting and underweight is prevalent among school age children living in south west Ethiopia. Therefore, improving school feeding programme and provisions of health education regarding child nutrition should be considered. Keywords: chronic, undernutrition, factors, school age, children, Ethiopi