Abstract:
This study is designed to investigate socio economic determinants of under nutrition in children
aged below five years in rural kebeles of Arbaminch Zuria Woreda. In order to achieve the
objectives, the study employed community based cross sectional study design based on the
data collected from 355 respondents by using multi stage simple random sampling technique.
To analyze the data both descriptive and econometric analysis were used. Therefore, result of
the study revealed that prevalence of under nutrition was estimated to be about 19.2%, 16.1%
and 8.5% in terms of stunting, underweight and wasting respectively. Besides this, a binary
logistic regression analysis illustrated mother’s education, decision making power of mother,
mother occupational status, family size, birth interval among children, household food
insecurity status, utilization of credit facility, household wealth status, distance from health
services and child extra feeding practice were identified as factors significantly affecting under
nutrition in the study area. Therefore, the study revealed that large family size, low birth
interval among child, household food insecurity status and unable to take extra feeding
continuously at child hood age were the main determinants for the complexity of under
nutrition. Finally to overcome these problem, different program and policy interventions
should be designed with careful consideration of linkage of these factors.
