PREVALENCE OF STUNTING, WASTING AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG CHILDREN AGED 6-59 MONTHS IN JEWI REFUGEE CAMP, GAMBELLA REGION, ETHIOPIA, 2023

Abstract

Background: Children's undernutrition, resulting from insufficient consumption of calories and protein, is a widespread problem worldwide, often made worse by recurrent episodes of viral illness. stunting and wasting are the most common nutritional problems in many parts of the world but the highest burden is in developing countries with the highest number of children and the refugee population. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months in a Jewi refugee Camp, Gambella region, Ethiopia, 2023. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 640 mother-child pairs between June 15 and July 10, 2023. The data were collected using Structure questionnaire by KOBOTOOL Box and anthropometric measurements of height and weight of children were taken. The data was exported to SPSS (version 26.0) for analysis, World Health Organization Anthro software version 3.2 was used to convert nutritional data into Z scores of the indices weight-for-height, weight-for-age, and height-for-age. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify factors associated with child undernutrition. Results: The response rate was 99.38%., the study revealed that stunting 57.0% (95% CI (53.1, 60.9)) and wasting 71.9% (95% CI ((68.2, 75.3)), age of mother 30-34 years were 1.65 (95% CI (1.01, 2.70)), Households with under five years children were 1.61 (95% CI (1.12, 2.32 , child age 25-36 months and 36 months or older were 2.23 (95% CI (1.40, 3.53) and 1.70 (95% CI (1.07, 2.70)) respectively, sex of child were 1.64 (95% CI (1.17, 2.31)), low meal frequency were 1.42 (95% CI (1.01, 2.00)) and decision making were 1.65 (95% CI (1.08, 2.52)), Occupation of husband were 2.73 (95% CI (1.58, 4.72)), child age 25-36 months and 36 months were 8.47(95% CI (4.14, 17.30)) and 16.09 (95% CI (6.98, 37.09)) respectively, sex of child were 1.68 (95%CI (1.14, 2.48)) ANC 1.66 (95% CI (1.06, 2.59)) were significant factor for stunting and wasting. Conclusion: Stunting and wasting is an important public health problem among children aged 6–59 months in Jewi camp. Age and sex of child, age of mother and occupation of husband were strongly a factor in both stunting and wasting, respectively. As a result, community-based intervention and implementation should be developing in order to reduce the effect and the high burden of undernutrition among children under the age of five.