Undernutrition among the children below five years of age in Uganda: A spatial analysis approach

Abstract

Abstract Background: Undernutrition is a health condition caused by lack of enough food intake, not having enough of the right combination of food nutrients or the body’s failure to utilize the food eaten. This deficiency of food intake results into any of the three health problems namely; stunting, underweight or body wasting. Though the condition affects both the young and old, the young especially the under-fives are at a higher risk. Globally, undernutrition affects more than 149 million under-fives while in Uganda about 3 in every 10 children suffer from undernutrition. The prevalence is unevenly distributed throughout the country. The effects of undernutrition go beyond physical deformities to the child’s poor mental development, poor cognitive development, frequent morbidity and can lead to death. Methods: This study aimed at establishing spatial variation of undernutrition within Uganda. Anthropometric data on children was obtained from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS). Data for prevalence rates and percentages of factors affecting undernutrition were combined with the Uganda district shape file to allow spatial analysis. Moran’s I, Getis-Ord (GI*) and GWR respectively, were used to establish the local, global and geographically weighted regressions across the country. ArC GIS (version 10) was used for analysis. Results: The results indicate that, undernutrition in Uganda shows varies spatially across regions. Evidence of hot spots exist in the North Eastern part of Uganda (the Karamoja region) and the Arua region, cold spot areas exist around the central part of the country while the greatest part of Western Uganda, Northern and Eastern were not significant. Conclusion: The study reveals that a variation in the distribution of undernutrition throughout the country. Significant spatial patterns associated with undernutrition as were identified through hotspot and cold spot analysis do exist in Uganda. Programmes targeting to reduce the undernutrition of under-fives in Uganda should consider the spatial distribution of undernutrition and its determinants. Prioritization in reducing undernutrition should be given to specific hotspot areas. The spatial intensity of undernutrition and its determinants indicate that focus should be tailored to meet the local needs as opposed to a holistic national approach.