Yimer Mihrete
The objective of this study was to assess the stunting and wasting rate among children less than five years of age and its associated factors in Jigjiga town. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Jigjiga site from March to May, 2017. A total of 128 household, mother-child pairs were included in the study. A multivariate logistic analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with stunting and wasting, separately. The prevalence of stunting and wasting among children aged 0-59 were (34.9%) and 50.4% respectively. This result revealed that illiterate mothers were (58.6%) higher than literate mothers 42.4%, in that matter the child whose mother is illiterate are most likely to be stunted or wasted than children whose mother is literate. This might be lack of awareness about the nutritious food to meet physiological status of child and unavailability of latrine. In general, the magnitude of stunting and wasting exists as a severe public health concern. Therefore, improving socio-economic status, latrine and maternal postnatal vitamin-supplementation coverage are essential to mitigate the high burden of stunting.
