Burden and Predictors of Underweight among Preschool Orphan Children in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Underweight is one of the public health problems in Ethiopia. Underweight children had lower resistance to diseases, lower school performance, and poor quality of life. In Ethiopia, most of the available evidences are related to the general community children, which had different risks and severity level than orphan children. Even though under-five orphan children had a higher risk of underweight, they are the most neglected population. Therefore, the aim of the study to determine the burden and predictors of underweight among preschool orphan children in Dilla Town, Southern Ethiopia. Method: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 367 orphans from December 5, 2017 to January 30, 2018. The survey data were entered into EPi-info version 3.5.4 software and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. The burden of underweight was assessed by calculating the percentages using ENA SMART software was used for anthropometric data management using WHO standard cutoff point below-2 S.D using z-scores. All variables with a p-value of < 0.25 during bivariate logistic regression analysis were entered into a multivariate analysis to identify predictors variables independently associated with underweight at a p-value of 0.05 with 95% CI. Results: In this study, the burden of underweight among orphan children was 27.4%. The main predictors of underweight were sex of child (AOR = 5.29, 95% CI (2.83-9.92)), type of first complementary food (AOR = 2.47; 95% CI (1.24-4.94)), household food security (AOR = 1.98; 95% CI (1.23-3.21)) and age of child (AOR = 7.19; 95% CI (3.81-13.60)). Conclusion: Underweight is a public health problem in the study area. Sex of a child, type of first complimentary food, household food security status, and child age were the predictors of underweight. Therefore, dietary appropriate intervention, nutrition education of mothers, and increase food security status of orphan children are highly recommended. Keywords: Underweight, Preschool, Orphan children, Southern Ethiopia