Determinants of stunting and severe stunting among under-fives in Tanzania: evidence from the 2010 cross-sectional household survey.
BACKGROUND
Stunting is one of the main public health problems in Tanzania. It is caused mainly by malnutrition among children aged less than 5 years. Identifying the determinants of stunting and severe stunting among such children would help public health planners to reshape and redesign new interventions to reduce this health hazard. This study aimed to identify factors associated with stunting and severe stunting among children aged less than five years in Tanzania.


METHODS
The sample is made up of 7324 children aged 0-59 months, from the Tanzania Demographic and Health Surveys 2010. Analysis in this study was restricted to children who lived with the respondent (women aged 15-49 years). Stunting and severe stunting were examined against a set of individual-, household- and community-level factors using simple and multiple logistic regression analyses.


RESULTS
The prevalence of stunting and severe stunting were 35.5% [95% Confidence interval (CI): 33.3-37.7] and 14.4% (95 % CI: 12.9-16.1) for children aged 0-23 months and 41.6% (95 % CI: 39.8-43.3) and 16.1% (95 % CI: 14.8-17.5) for children aged 0-59 months, respectively. Multivariable analyses showed that the most consistent significant risk factors for stunted and severely-stunted children aged 0-23 and 0-59 months were: mothers with no schooling, male children, babies perceived to be of small or average size at birth by their mothers and unsafe sources of drinking water [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for stunted children aged 0-23 months = 1.37; 95% CI: (1.07, 1.75)]; [AOR for severely stunted children aged 0-23 months = 1.50; 95% CI: (1.05, 2.14)], [AOR for stunted children aged 0-59 months = 1.42; 95% CI: (1.13, 1.79)] and [AOR for severely stunted children aged 0-59 months = 1.26; 95% CI: (1.09, 1.46)].


CONCLUSIONS
Community-based interventions are needed to reduce the occurrence of stunting and severe stunting in Tanzania. These interventions should target mothers with low levels of education, male children, small- or average-size babies and households with unsafe drinking water.
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. chirandelulu@yahoo.com.
Lulu
L
Chirande
Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. mischarwe@yahoo.co.uk.
Deborah
D
Charwe
Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. hadija27@yahoo.com.
Hadijah
H
Mbwana
Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. msakirose@yahoo.com.
Rose
R
Victor
Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. skimboka@hotmail.com.
Sabas
S
Kimboka
School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Building 24.2.40, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2571, Australia. jagunu@yahoo.com.au.
Abukari Ibrahim
AI
Issaka
School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. surinder.baines@newcastle.edu.au.
Surinder K
SK
Baines
Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. michael.dibley@sydney.edu.au.
Michael J
MJ
Dibley
School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Building 24.2.40, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2571, Australia. K.Agho@uws.edu.au.
Kingsley Emwinyore
KE
Agho
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult