Determinants of malnutrition among children aged 0-5 years in Uganda: case study of Northern Uganda

Abstract

This study aimed at finding the factors associated with malnutrition among under-five children using a case study of Northern Uganda. The study used secondary data obtained from UDHS, 2016 children dataset. Data was analyzed at three levels "univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis" where frequency distribution tables were used to establish the background characteristics of the respondents, Pearson's chi-square tests were used to measure the association between malnutrition and each of the selected independent variable and multivariate was used to establish the determinants of malnutrition among children under-five. Results indicated that mother's education and wealth index had an association with malnutrition among under five children and children born by mothers with higher education status were less exposed to the risk of malnutrition 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 malnutrition since the p-value was greater than 0.05 which made the stated null hypothesis for these factors true. From multivariate analysis, all factors were found to be insignificantly associated with stunting. Therefore, girl child education and women empowerment programs should be invested in much by the government and non-government institutions in order to curb or mitigate the problem in the country most especially in Northern and Southwest of the country.