Prevalence of undernutrition among children aged 6 t0 12 years in a disaster-prone district: a case study of Mbale district in eastern Uganda

Abstract

Background: Undernutrition in school age children between 6 to 12 years is associated with a considerable burden of disease and adverse short- and long-term effects on health, growth and education. In disaster prone areas, the effect of undernutrition is often exacerbated but there are limited age specific nutrition interventions targeting this age group. This could be attributed to the paucity of data on the nutrition status of school age children between 6 to 12 years. This study examined the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among children aged 6-12 years in Mbale District. Method: This was a sequential explanatory mixed methods study employing a cross-sectional design and key informant interviews for data collection. Secondary data was extracted from the TREATCAUD project data base and a sample of 450 child caregiver pairs was systematically selected. Anthroplus software and Stata 16 software were used for analysis. Ten In-depth Interviews with caregivers and eight Key Informant interviews with stakeholders in nutrition and local leaders were conducted and data was analyzed thematically using Atlas Ti. 7. Results: The study found the prevalence of stunting at 18% and that of thinness at 8% in children aged 6 to 12 years in Mbale District. The factors that significantly influenced the prevalence of thinness and stunting were diarrheal diseases (APR= 18.74; 95% CI:5.538-63.405) and low dietary diversity (APR= 4.76; 95% CI:1.713-13.207). The qualitative data provided additional explanatory factors for this level of undernutrition including; frequent disasters and changes in weather patterns, unemployment, limited access to land, low dietary diversity and reduced meal frequency. Conclusion and recommendations: The prevalence of stunting among school aged children aged 6-12 years was higher than that of thinness in Mbale. This implies that chronic malnutrition is more common than acute malnutrition. This study therefore, recommends that the health facility workers, community development officers and VHTs should conduct comprehensive nutrition education sessions targeting caregivers, families, and communities emphasizing the importance of diverse and nutrient-rich diets for mitigation of undernutrition among school age children.