Socio Economic Determinants of under Nutrition among Children Aged Below Five Years: A Case of Arba Minch Zuria Woreda Southern Regional State of Ethiopia

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.