Undernutrition and its determinants among under-five children of indigenous Thami Population in Dolakha District, Nepal

Abstract

Undernutrition is a major public health issue leading to morbidity and mortality in children of age under-five, especially with higher rate of prevalence in very low or low-income countries including socially deprived and marginalized group of population. This study was carried out to identify the prevalence of undernutrition and its determinants among under-five children of indigenous Thami population in Dolakha District, Nepal. A community based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted during the period of August to September 2019 with multistage sampling technique among 366 under-five children and their biological mothers. Anthropometric measurement tools were used to collect the data as per WHO guideline. WHO anthro software was used to assess the Z-score and prevalence of Undernutrition. SPSS version 22 was used to analyze descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, median, and standard deviation) to examine the level and characteristic of the respondents. Bivariate analysis was applied using chi-square test for the categorical data to identify the association between independent variables and dependent variables. There were 31(8.5%) of wasting, 160 (43.7%) of stunting and 101 (27.6%) of underweight and found higher prevalence in 12–23 months of age and male children among 366 sample of under-five children. There were significant association between sex of child, number of children, age of mother, age of mother at youngest childbirth, use of contraceptive, introduction of extra food to baby immediately after birth, MR II vaccination, ARI, handwashing before feeding the child was statistically significant association with stunting. MR-I vaccination to child, child getting sick within 2 weeks, postnatal check-up, Contraceptive use, handwashing before feeding the child, consumption of alcohol by mother during pregnancy, presence of child health cards, diarrhoea, treatment with witch doctors, Acute respiratory infection to the child were significantly associated with underweight and keeping the safely the child health cards was significantly associated with wasting.