Prevalence and Risk Factors of Malnutrition among Children of Ages 6 to 59 Months and the Strategies for their Reduction in Manyovu Kigoma Region –Tanzania.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in Manyovu, Kigoma region of Tanzania.This was to assess prevalence, risk factors and mitigation strategies of malnutrition among children aged 6 to 59 months. Convenient and random sampling was used to choose a mother- child pair. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Child nutritional status was assessed based on anthropometric measurements. The potential risk factors to malnutrition were also assessed. These included: sociodemographic/ economic characteristics, access to clean water, breastfeeding practices,24 hrs food recall, number of food groups consumed by both mother and child and food frequency. The survey data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics 20 (2016). The anthropometric data were analyzed using the WHO Anthro version 3.2.2.1 – 2018 software. An expert focus group discussion was used to identify strategies for mitigation of malnutrition in the community. The study enrolled 362 mother-child pairs from Heri Adventist Hospital. Only one child was selected from all the children that were eligible in families. The number of families that had more than one eligible child was 85%. It was found that 94.5% of the children were exclusively breastfed for six months. Prevalences recorded in this study were: of underweight 9.7%, stunting 43.1 %,and wasting 3.6%. The educational status and the earnings of parents correlated positively with the nutritional status of the children. The number of crops grown by families correlated positively with the weight for height of the children. The study is very informative and provides a reason for nutritional intervention unit in the community. The focus group identified education of young girls, economic empowerment of women and establishing of nutritional units in health care institutions. Keywords: Manyovu, Kigoma, risk factor, mitigation strategies of malnutrition