Prevalence of Acute Malnutrition and Associated Factors among Children aged 6–59 months in South Wollo Zone, East Amhara, Northeast Ethiopia: a Community-based cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of acute malnutrition and associated factors in South Wollo zone, East Amhara, Northeast Ethiopia. DESIGN: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 504 children aged 6–59 months who were selected by using a multistage sampling technique. The mid-upper-arm-circumference and Z-scores for weight-for-height were used to determine the nutritional status of the participants. A semi-structured interview questionnaire was used to collect the data. Then data was entered into EpiData V.3.1 and exported to SPSS software V.25 for analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with acute malnutrition and variables with p value<0.05 were declared as statistically significant. SETTING: The study was conducted in South Wollo zone, Northeast Ethiopia from 1 August 2020 to 30 September 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 6–59 months with their mothers were the study subjects. RESULTS: The prevalence of acute malnutrition among children aged 6–59 months was 31.0%. Child aged 6–11 months (adjusted OR (AOR)=3.92; 95% CI: 1.74 to 8.82), illiterate mothers (AOR=3.01; 95% CI: 1.92 to 7.01), single mother (AOR=3.06; 95% CI: 1.32 to 7.07), lack of latrine (AOR=2.39; 95% CI: 1.12 to 5.11), diarrhoea (AOR=4.18; 95% CI: 2.02 to 8.65), respiratory tract infection (AOR=2.31; 95% CI: 1.08 to 4.94), family size (≥5) (AOR=3.29; 95% CI: 1.53 to 7.09) and cessation of breast feeding before 2 years (AOR=3.79; 95% CI: 1.71 to 8.23) were the independent predictors of acute malnutrition. CONCLUSION: Acute malnutrition is highly prevalent in the study area which is more than the national figure. Thus, improving maternal education, access to the latrine, improved breastfeeding practice, improved family planning usage and early detection and treatment of diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections will enhance children’s nutritional status. In addition, nutritional diversity education needs to be strengthened.