Factors associated with stunting among children of under-five years in Northern Uganda

Abstract

This study investigated the factors associated with stunting among under five children from Northern Uganda using secondary data. Its specific objectives included; identifying the relationship between social factors, economic and demographic factors with stunting among under five children. Data was analyzed at two levels “univariate and Bivariate analysis” where frequency distribution tables were used to establish the background characteristics of the respondent and Pearson’s chi-square test was used to measure the association between stunting and each of the selected independent variable. The study findings indicated that mother`s education and wealth index had an association with stunting among under-five children and children born by mothers with higher education status were less exposed to the risk of being stunted compared to those with lower education levels. Children born by rich mothers were less likely to be stunted compared to those born by middle income earners and the poor. However, other factors were not associated with stunting since the p-value was greater than 0.05 which made the stated null hypotheses for these factors true. Therefore, girl child education and women empowerment programmes should be invested in much by the government and non-governmental institutions in order to curb or mitigate problem in the country most especially in Northern and South West of the country.