Background Child malnutrition is a huge health problem having multifaceted consequences for child survival and long-term well-being. Although, several studies investigated stunting, underweight, and wasting in low- and middle-income countries, in Nigeria, the link between them received little attention. The aim of this study is, therefore, to assess the association between anthropometric indicators of under-five children such as stunting, underweight and wasting given that of other characteristics of children and households. Methods The data for this study was obtained from Nigerian Demographic and health survey (NDHS) in 2018. A total of 11,314 under-five children were involved. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine the association between stunting, underweight and wasting given that of the estimated effect of other determinants. Results From 11,314 under-five children the study considered 36.2, 21.4 and 6.7% of them suffered from stunting, underweight and wasting, respectively. About half (50.7%) of the children were male, 24.1% was obtained from North West region of Nigeria, and 37.8% of them were from households having unimproved drinking water. The pairwise dependency between stunting and underweight; underweight and wasting was measured using odds ratio (OR) of 15.796, and 16.750 respectively. The estimated odds of children from richest household to become stunted, underweight, and wasted was respectively 0.392, 0.540, 0.786 times that of the estimated odds of children from poorest households. Conclusion The prevalence of under-five children with stunting, underweight and/or wasting in Nigeria was very high. The important determinants of stunting, underweight, and wasting for under five children were household wealth index, women body mass index, sex of the child, anemia, mothers’ age at first birth, and a diarrhea two weeks prior to the survey. Whereas, region, religion, multiple birth, women’s educational level significantly associated with both stunting and underweight. Both stunting and wasting significantly associated with underweight.

Background Malnutrition is the most common cause of mortality and morbidity of children in low and middle income countries including Ethiopia and household wealth index shares the highest contribution. Thus, in this study it is aimed to conduct bivariate binary logistic regression analysis by accounting the possible dependency of child composite index anthropometric failure and household wealth index. Methods In this study the data from Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) 2016 involved 9411 under five children was considered. Child Composite Index Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) measures the aggregate child undernourished derived from the conventional anthropometric indices (stunting, underweight and wasting). The correlation between CIAF and wealth index was checked and significant correlation found. To address the dependency between the two outcome variables bivariate binary logistic regression was used to analyze the determinants of child CAIF and household wealth index jointly. Results Study results show that region, place of residence, religion, education level of women and husband/partner, sex of child, source of drinking water, household size and number of under five children in the household, mothers body mass index, multiple birth and anemia level of child had significant association with child CIAF. Female children were 0.82 times less likely to be CIAF compared to male and multiple birth children were more likely to be CIAF compared to single birth. Children from Oromia, Somalie, Gambela, SNNPR, Harari and Addis Ababa region were 0.6, 0.56, 0.67, 0.52, 0.6 and 0.44 times less likely to be CIAF compared to Tigray. A household from rural area were 15.49 times more likely poor compared to a household. The estimated odds of children whose mothers attended primary, and secondary and higher education was 0.82, and 0.52 times respectively the estimated odds of children from mothers who had never attended formal education. Conclusion The prevalence of children with composite index anthropometric failure was high and closely tied with the household wealth index. Among the determinants, region, religion, family education level, and anemia level of child were statistically significant determinants of both CIAF and household wealth index. Thus, the authors recommend to concerned bodies and policymakers work on household wealth index to reduce the prevalence of child composite anthropometric failure.

Background Undernutrition is the main cause of morbidity and mortality of children aged under five and it is an important indicator of countries’ economic and health status. Limited attention is given to research papers conducted in Ethiopia that identified and estimates the determinants of under-five anthropometric indicators by considering their association and clustering effect. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and estimate the effects of important determinants of anthropometric indicators by taking into account their association and cluster effects. Methods In this study, a cross-sectional study design was implemented based on the data obtained from the 2019 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey (EMDHS) consists a total of 5027 under-five children. A multilevel multivariate logistic regression model was employed to estimate the effect of the determinants given their association of anthropometric indicators and clustering effect. Results Among 5027 children considered in the study 36.0, 23.3, and 9.1% of them were stunted, underweight, and wasted, respectively. Whereas the total number of undernourished (stunting, underweight and/or wasting) children was 42.9%. More than half of the children (51.2%) were males and 77.0% lived in rural area. The estimated odds of children from households with secondary and above education levels being stunted was 0.496 (OR = 0.496) times the estimated odds of children from households with no education. Whereas children from the richest households were less likely to be stunted as compared to children from the poorest households (OR = 0.485). The estimated odds of children from urban areas being underweight and wasting were lower by 24.9 and 33.7% of estimated odds of children from rural areas respectively. Conclusion The prevalence of anthropometric indicators of stunting, underweight, and wasting in Ethiopia was increased. The children underweight has significant dependency with both stunting and wasting. The sex of the child, wealth index, and education level of a household are the common important determinants of stunting, underweight and wasting. The undernourished status of children was more alike within the region and differences between regions.

Background: Nowadays, the burden of non-communicable diseases including obesity has been an increasing public health concern. This menace can be monitored using indexing method like body mass index. Studies indicate that socioeconomic indicators such as income, biology, behavior, and demographic factors associated with body mass index. In Ethiopia, few studies associate wealth index with body mass index in people of ages between 15 and 49. This study was aimed to assess the association of body mass index with wealth index, and behavioral and sociodemographic population characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey population of ages 15–49. A total of 10,245 individuals were considered to detect the effect of socioeconomic, biological, behavioral, and demographic factors on body mass index using logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity among men are 23.8%, 6.6%, and 2.0%, respectively, which is lower than that of women (underweight 25.3%, overweight 9.1%, and obesity 2.9%). The poorest men had higher odds of being underweight (adjusted odds ratio = 2.395%; 95% confidence interval = 2.020–3.544) as compared to the richest men. Merchants and government employees have lower odds (adjusted odds ratio = 0.744; 95% confidence interval = 0.588–0.899) compared to men whose occupation is farming and labor, indicating that merchants and government employees are more likely to become overweight and obese compared to men who are farmers and laborers. Conclusion: It is concluded that wealth index is an important socioeconomic determinant of body mass index among men and women of age 15–49 in Ethiopia. A high prevalence of underweight, and overweight, and obesity is observed, which increases instances of non-communicable diseases. Effects of socioeconomic, biological, behavioral, and demographic indicators on body mass index differed according to sex.

Background Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) are a major cause of mortality among children under five. This study aimed to investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of ALRI in Ethiopian administrative zones. Methods In this study, a total of 29,599 under-five children from 2299 geographical units in 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHSs) were involved. The generalized multilevel mixed model to analyze the effect of child-household level characteristics on ALRI was adopted. Results Overall prevalence of ALRI among Ethiopian under-five children is found to be 15%, with 2000, recording the highest prevalence of 24.44% while 2016 had the lowest prevalence of 11.07%. Being in the higher age group of children and having no experience of undernutrition status showed significantly lower ALRI prevalence than their counterparts. Among the household characteristics children from uneducated parents, unimproved household sanitation, lower wealth index, and rural residents were more likely to have ALRI than their counterparts. Based on the best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) for the zonal-level random effect, the performance of Zones was ranked. Conclusions Between and within the Ethiopian administrative Zones disparities in ALRI were observed. The ranking of the performance of the Zones may help to target the worst performing Zones for immediate intervention strategy and the best performing Zones as a role model to adopt their best practice in the Ethiopian strategy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal by the year 2030.