{"title":"Factors associated with stunting among children in Mvomero district Tanzania.","authors":"Elina Jacob Maseta","doi":"10.1177/02601060221129004","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b>Background:</b> Under nutrition has been a major problem in developing countries including Tanzania; hence, contributing to about half of the deaths among young children. <b>Objective:</b> The current study aimed at identifying child feeding practices and determinants of stunting in children under the age of five years in Mvomero District. <b>Methods:</b> A cross-sectional study involving 150 mother-child pairs was carried out in Turiani ward, Mvomero district in Morogoro region. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with stunting. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered sta-tistically significant. Five focus group discussions comprising 5-9 mothers with children below five years participated in the study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data from the in-depth interviews. <b>Results:</b> The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in Mvomero district was 16.8, 42.2, and 6.2% respectively. Pre-lacteal feeding was common in the study area (40%). Children were introduced to complementary food too early (<6 months) with plain maize porridge being the first food introduced. About 57.2% of children were on the lowest tercile (≤3 food groups per day) dietary diversity score. Significant determinants of stunting were the family source of income (AOR 1.63, 95% CI: 1.99-2.3), age of a child (AOR 2.66, 95% CI: 1.03-3.50) and family size (AOR 3.22, 95% CI: 1.61-4.27). Other factors were consumption of animal foods (AOR 5.30, 95% CI: 0.26-0.60) and dietary diversity score (AOR 1.615, 95% CI: 1.014-2.574). <b>Conclusion:</b> Child feeding practices in the study area are sub-optimal. These findings have important implications for interventions to address stunting among children.</p>","PeriodicalId":19352,"journal":{"name":"Nutrition and health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nutrition and health","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02601060221129004","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/10/11 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NUTRITION & DIETETICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Under nutrition has been a major problem in developing countries including Tanzania; hence, contributing to about half of the deaths among young children. Objective: The current study aimed at identifying child feeding practices and determinants of stunting in children under the age of five years in Mvomero District. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 150 mother-child pairs was carried out in Turiani ward, Mvomero district in Morogoro region. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with stunting. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered sta-tistically significant. Five focus group discussions comprising 5-9 mothers with children below five years participated in the study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data from the in-depth interviews. Results: The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in Mvomero district was 16.8, 42.2, and 6.2% respectively. Pre-lacteal feeding was common in the study area (40%). Children were introduced to complementary food too early (<6 months) with plain maize porridge being the first food introduced. About 57.2% of children were on the lowest tercile (≤3 food groups per day) dietary diversity score. Significant determinants of stunting were the family source of income (AOR 1.63, 95% CI: 1.99-2.3), age of a child (AOR 2.66, 95% CI: 1.03-3.50) and family size (AOR 3.22, 95% CI: 1.61-4.27). Other factors were consumption of animal foods (AOR 5.30, 95% CI: 0.26-0.60) and dietary diversity score (AOR 1.615, 95% CI: 1.014-2.574). Conclusion: Child feeding practices in the study area are sub-optimal. These findings have important implications for interventions to address stunting among children.