Prevalence of Wasting and Associated Factors Among Children Aged 6-23 Months in Garowe, Puntland, Somalia

Abstract

Abdulahi Abdiwali, Berhe Gebremichael, Solomon Gebretsadik Bereka, Kedir Teji Roba

Background: Child wasting is one of the most serious public health problems in developing countries, including Somalia. It affects child growth and development. If not treat early it causes chronic malnutrition than will affects brain development and can cause premature death of the children. However, there is limited evidences regarding child wasting in Somalia and no study in Puntland in particular. Therefore, this study was designed assess the prevalence of wasting and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months in Garowe Town, Puntland, Somalia.

Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted using pre-tested questionnaire among 409 children aged 6-23 months, from June 05-15, 2021. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. The collected data were entered and cleaned using EpiData version 3.1 and then exported into statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20 for analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models were employed to identify factors associated with wasting. Variables having p-value <0.05 were considered to be significantly associated with the dependent variable. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to show the presence, strength and direction of associations.

Results: The prevalence of wasting among children aged 6-23 months was 34.2%, (95%CI 28.7 CI, 40.3); of which, 12% were severely wasted. Being from daily laborer father (AOR=3.1, 95% CI: (1.1, 8.7)), initiating complementary feeding before six months (AOR=8, 95% CI: (4.5, 14)) , breastfeeding initiation after some hour of birth (AOR=3.9, 95% CI: (1.8, 8.4)), being unvaccinated (AOR=2.9, 95% CI:(1.7, 5.2)), mother with no formal education (AOR=3.4, 95% CI: (1.6, 7.0)) and mothers who didn’t attend ANC follow-up during last pregnancy (AOR=5.3, 95% CI: (2.9, 9.5) were significantly associated with occurrence of wasting among children aged 6-23 months.

Conclusion: The prevalence of wasting among children aged 6-23 months in the study area is serious public health problem. Therefore, to reduce the incidence of malnutrition, ministry of health should work closely with all health facilities in the country, as well as improve the quality of health workers and strengthen maternal and child health care.

PDF