The Socio-economic, Demographic, and Contextual Predictors of Malnutrition among Children aged 6-59 months in Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Malnutrition has remained a global public health issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Researchers have committed to studying malnutrition (especially in children under the age of five) to address the nine malnutrition targets, set by the WHO to be achieved by 2025. With barely three years to the end of target date, there is so much yet undone to meet the target especially in developing countries. In fact, there can be no effective interventions without a strong evidence base. This study seeks to evaluate the prevalence of malnutrition among children aged 6–59 months across Nigeria and its states, as well as its individual and contextual factors. Two separates, independently collected, nationally representative cross-sectional surveys, the National Human Development Report (NHDR 2018) and the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (2018 NDHS) were linked for the study. Spatial map was used to describe the prevalence of malnutrition, a 3-level multivariate multilevel logistic regression models were fitted where children/individuals (at level 1) were nested in communities/clusters (at level 2) and nested in states (at level 3). The results showed that an estimated 43.6% of children aged 6–59 months are poorly nourished in Nigeria. The proportions of poorly nourished children were generally highest in the Northern Nigeria. Child’s gender, age, birth size, preceding birth order, anaemia status, maternal education, work status, body weight, household wealth status, number of bedrooms were among individual/household predictors of malnutrition. On the community level, being from community with high wealth index, distance to nearest health facilities is no big problem. Regional variations and gender inequality index were state level predictors of malnutrition among children in Nigeria. This study has shown that two-third of children aged 6–59 months in Nigeria were poorly nourished. The high rates of constant insecurities that have distorted farming activities in the northern part of the country should be addressed urgently.