Factors driving underweight, wasting, and stunting among urban school aged children: Evidence from Merawi town, Northwest Ethiopia

Prior research identified malnutrition as one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children globally. Furthermore, research revealed that over two thirds of deaths associated with inappropriate feeding practices occurred during the early years of life. Improper feeding practices impact a child's health in many different ways. However, research on the possible factors driving underweight, wasting, and stunting among school aged children in developing countries is limited, hence warrant further attention. Against this backdrop, this research strives to identify and assess the determinants of underweight, wasting and stunting among school aged children of a developing country-Ethiopia. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 1, 2018 to June 15, 2018 in Merawi town, Ethiopia. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 422 children. Binary logistic regression technique was performed to examine the effect of each selected variable on the outcome measure. The prevalence of being underweight, wasting and stunting was found to be 5.7%, 9.8%, 10.4%, respectively. The age of the child [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 12.930 (2.350, 71.157)] and the number of children [AOR = 8.155 (1.312, 50.677)] were emerged as the key determinants for underweight, and the gender of the child was significantly associated with wasting [AOR = 0.455 (0.224, 0.927)]. Finally, the age of the child [AOR = 12.369 (2.522, 60.656)] was found to predict the risk of stunting. This study revealed the age, number of children and gender of the child to have a significant association with malnutrition. The findings of this research suggest that in improving the feeding practices of young school-aged children, special attention should be paid to female children and those coming from relatively large families.