Prevalence and associated factors of chronic undernutrition among under five children in Adama town, Central Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study design

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and factors associated with stunting among under five children in Adama town, Central Ethiopia, 2013. A community based cross sectional study was conducted on 616 parent child pairs of under five children using structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurements. World health organization new growth reference was used to convert height measurements into Z-scores of the height for age indices considering age and sex of the children. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed at P value < 0.05. RESULTS: This study revealed that 44.4% of under five children were stunted. The findings showed that a significant positive association between stunting and mother educational status (AOR = 3.69 95% CI 1.42, 9.58), number of under five children in the house hold (AOR = 2.8 95% CI 1.77, 4.42), decision making on the use of money only by husband (AOR = 4.43 95% CI 2.51, 7.80), age of complementary foods started (AOR = 7.52 95% CI 3.39, 16.68), presence of diarrhea in the last two week (AOR = 1.79 95% CI 1.13, 2.83). Therefore, this study recommends intervention strategies focusing on encouraging women education, family planning and education on child caring practice