Small Area Estimation of Undernutrition under Age Five Children Based on Spatial-Temporal Models

Abstract

The mean flow of direct survey estimates is mainly concerning the sample adequacy fulfillment unless it has been produced large variance estimates, and therefore, the small area estimations are developed to manage this flaw of the path. Small area estimation improved the direct survey estimates by borrowing strength from the census data and at the same time by using historical data from consecutive surveys. In this paper, we applied the spatiotemporal Fay–Herriot (STFH) model for producing fairly reliable disaggregate-level estimates of undernutrition indicators across all zones. The STFH model is an appropriately fitted model to the undernutrition data since it has the lowest information criteria (IC) value. The spatiotemporal estimates improved both the direct and spatial estimates of undernutrition under the FH model and have brought efficiency gain in the percent coefficient of variation (CV). These results may provide useful information to the government’s planners, policymakers, and legislative organs for effective policy formulation and budget allocation in all zones.