IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ajfand/340768.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Associated With Stunting Among Children Aged Below 60 Months From Rural Malawi: A Matched Case-Control Study

Author

Listed:
  • Fungo, R
  • Zulu, R
  • Munthali, J
  • Mutua, M
  • Birachi, E

Abstract

Stunting currently affects 37% (1.1 million) of Malawian children and causing unfavorable impact for both children and their households. Identifying risk factors to stunting would go a long way in developing appropriate interventions. The objective of this study was to identify the risk factors of stunting among children aged below 60 months from Balaka, Dedza and Mzimba districts in Malawi. A matched cross-sectional case-control study was conducted among 913 (446 controls; 467 cases) children aged below 60 months from three regions of Malawi. Household demographic, anthropometric measurements, dietary intake, food security, and morbidity information were collected. Case-Control Stepwise multiple logistic regression models are used to determine risk factors of stunting. The following were identified as risk factors for stunting including; age of child (AOR= 6.3; 95% CI: 2.9, 8.9), polygamy (AOR= 8.9; 95%, CI: 3.3, 13.03), maternal education (AOR= 9.9; 95%, CI: 2.8, 20.1), access to markets (AOR= 1.3; 95%, CI: 0.2, 2.4), childhood infections (AOR= 2.11; 95%, CI: 1.4, 4.2) and presence of oedema (AOR= 2.5; 95%, CI: 1.3, 4.1). Also, lack of food any month (AOR= 1.31; 95%, CI: 1.01, 4.9), purchasing food on credit (AOR= 1.48; 95%, CI: 1.4, 1.7), begging for food (AOR= 1.55; 95%, CI: 1.2, 2.1), mothers or caregivers consuming less than 5 food groups (MDD-W) (AOR = 4.83; 95% CI: 1.9, 16.4), exclusive breastfeeding (AOR= 5.45; 95%, CI: 4.33, 7.61) children weaned on plain water (AOR= 1.6; 95%, CI: 1.6, 2.41), powdered milk (AOR= 0.63; 95%, CI: 0.4, 1.32), juices (AOR= 0.44; 95%, CI: 0.12, 0.96) and children fed on sugary food (AOR= 0.66; 95%, CI: 0.4, 0.99) were significantly related to stunting. Stunting is associated with increasing age of children, boys, polygamous households, lack of education by mothers or caregivers, inaccessible markets, childhood infections and presence of oedema, food insecurity, breastfeeding and complementary feeding among children and dietary diversity of mothers or caregivers. These results suggest that interventions against childhood stunting should be designed according to the factors that significantly affect stunting.

Suggested Citation

  • Fungo, R & Zulu, R & Munthali, J & Mutua, M & Birachi, E, 2023. "Factors Associated With Stunting Among Children Aged Below 60 Months From Rural Malawi: A Matched Case-Control Study," African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), vol. 23(10), November.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ajfand:340768
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.340768
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/340768/files/Fungo.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.340768?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Juan Merlo & Philippe Wagner & Nermin Ghith & George Leckie, 2016. "An Original Stepwise Multilevel Logistic Regression Analysis of Discriminatory Accuracy: The Case of Neighbourhoods and Health," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-31, April.
    2. Rana Khan & Muhammad Raza, 2016. "Determinants of malnutrition in Indian children: new evidence from IDHS through CIAF," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 299-316, January.
    3. Jane Kabubo-Mariara & Godfrey K. Ndenge & Domisiano K. Mwabu, 2009. "Determinants of Children's Nutritional Status in Kenya: Evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(3), pages 363-387, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bolte, Gabriele, 2018. "Epidemiologische Methoden und Erkenntnisse als eine Grundlage für Stadtplanung und gesundheitsfördernde Stadtentwicklung," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Baumgart, Sabine & Köckler, Heike & Ritzinger, Anne & Rüdiger, Andrea (ed.), Planung für gesundheitsfördernde Städte, volume 8, pages 118-134, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    2. Sukhwinder Singh & Andrew D. Jones & Ruth S. DeFries & Meha Jain, 2020. "The association between crop and income diversity and farmer intra-household dietary diversity in India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 369-390, April.
    3. Huhr, Scott & Wulczyn, Fred, 2022. "Do intensive in-home services prevent placement?: A case study of Youth Villages’ Intercept® program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    4. Kim, Rockli & Rajpal, Sunil & Joe, William & Corsi, Daniel J. & Sankar, Rajan & Kumar, Alok & Subramanian, S.V., 2019. "Assessing associational strength of 23 correlates of child anthropometric failure: An econometric analysis of the 2015-2016 National Family Health Survey, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Pia Kjær Kristensen & Raquel Perez-Vicente & George Leckie & Søren Paaske Johnsen & Juan Merlo, 2020. "Disentangling the contribution of hospitals and municipalities for understanding patient level differences in one-year mortality risk after hip-fracture: A cross-classified multilevel analysis in Swed," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, June.
    6. Evans, Clare R. & Williams, David R. & Onnela, Jukka-Pekka & Subramanian, S.V., 2018. "A multilevel approach to modeling health inequalities at the intersection of multiple social identities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 64-73.
    7. Pahlisch, Thi Hoa & Parvathi, Priyanka & Waibel, Hermann, 2017. "Comparing peri-urban versus rural poverty and child malnutrition reduction: Insights from Southeast Asia," TVSEP Working Papers wp-005, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, Project TVSEP.
    8. Carlo Azzarri & Alberto Zezza & Beliyou Haile & Elizabeth Cross, 2015. "Does Livestock Ownership Affect Animal Source Foods Consumption and Child Nutritional Status? Evidence from Rural Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1034-1059, August.
    9. Wulczyn, Fred, 2020. "Race/ethnicity and running away from foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Hao Wang & Chan Shen & Michael Barbaro & Amy F. Ho & Mona Pathak & Cita Dunn & Usha Sambamoorthi, 2023. "A Multi-Level Analysis of Individual and Neighborhood Factors Associated with Patient Portal Use among Adult Emergency Department Patients with Multimorbidity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-14, January.
    11. Rieger, Matthias & Wagner, Natascha, 2015. "Child health, its dynamic interaction with nutrition and health memory – Evidence from Senegal," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 135-145.
    12. Chandna, Arjita & Bhagowalia, Priya, 2024. "Birth order and children’s health and learning outcomes in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    13. Adewara, Sunday Olabisi & Visser, Martine, 2011. "Use of Anthropometric Measures to Analyze How Sources of Water and Sanitation Affect Chidren’s Health in Nigeria," RFF Working Paper Series dp-11-02-efd, Resources for the Future.
    14. Adesoji O. Farayibi & Oludele Folarin, 2020. "Does Government Education Expenditure Affect Educational Outcomes? New Evidence from Sub-Sahara African Countries," Research Africa Network Working Papers 21/048, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    15. Waibel, Hermann & Hohfeld, Lena, 2016. "Poverty and Nutrition: A Case Study of Rural Households in Thailand and Viet Nam," ADBI Working Papers 623, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    16. Sharaf, Mesbah & Rashad, Ahmed, 2016. "Economic and Socio-Demographic Determinants of Child Nutritional Status in Egypt: A Comprehensive Analysis using Quantile Regression Approach," Working Papers 2016-4, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    17. Adesoji O. Farayibi & Oludele Folarin, 2021. "Does Government Education Expenditure Affect Educational Outcomes? New Evidence from Sub-Sahara African Countries," Working Papers 21/048, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    18. Pablo Daniel Monterubbianesi & Karina Luján Temporelli, 2022. "Estilos de vida, factores de riesgo y salud autopercibida de la población argentina," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, vol. 25(1), pages 1-27, June.
    19. Betregiorgis Zegeye & Ziad El-Khatib & Edward Kwabena Ameyaw & Abdul-Aziz Seidu & Bright Opoku Ahinkorah & Mpho Keetile & Sanni Yaya, 2021. "Breaking Barriers to Healthcare Access: A Multilevel Analysis of Individual- and Community-Level Factors Affecting Women’s Access to Healthcare Services in Benin," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-15, January.
    20. John Cockburn & Ibrahim Kasirye & Jane Kabubo-Mariara & Luca Tiberti & Gemma Ahaibwe, 2014. "Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda," Working Papers PMMA 2014-03, PEP-PMMA.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:ajfand:340768. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.ajfand.net/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.