The dimensions of undernutrition and malnutrition and their demographic correlates in three communities of Arsi region in Ethiopia

The study was undertaken in three communities which are located around Eteya town in Arsi Region, Ethiopia. The sampling strategy was based on a general purposive criterion of selection due to time and cost considerations as well as ease of enumeration and supervision. The overall sample size was fixed at three villages/communities with comparable number of private and co-operative households. It covered 701 households, consisting of 359 private and 342 co-operative farming households respectively with 3676 persons and 641 pre-school children. The main objectives of the study were two-fold and they were to: 1. estimate the level of under nutrition of the households and malnutrition of the pre-school children in the three study communities; and 2. investigate the influence of some selected demographic variables on the nutritional status of the households as well as the pre-school children. The results of the study indicated that the level of under nutrition of the communities was found to be ranging from about 54 percent for the cooperative households to about 63 percent for the private farming households and the size of the malnourished pre-school children in the two farming sectors ranged from about 43 percent facing underweight to 67 percent experiencing stunting, with notable differentials among male and female-headed households. The variations in the nutritional status among male and female-headed households were explained by their demographic composition and economic activities in which the female-headed households were characterized by small family size and engaged in both agricultural and non-agricultural activities such as petty trading and preparation of local beverages for sales which helped them improve their nutritional status. The output of the logistic regression model clearly indicated that demographic variables played important roles in increasing the incidence and prevalence of under nutrition and malnutrition among the households and pre-school children in the study communities. The finding suggested that under nutrition was positively correlated with the number of children, average household size, educational level, and polygamous marriages. Besides, it appeared to vary with respect to religion, ethnicity, marital status and type of farming. The level of malnutrition of the pre-school children was also observed to vary significantly with duration of breast-feeding, number of household members, parental presence/absence, type of marriages, status of weaning, sex and age of children, marital status and literacy levels.