Decomposing the educational inequalities in the risk factors of severe acute malnutrition among under-five children in low and middle-income countries

Abstract

Abstract Background Low- and Middle-income countries (LMIC) are still plagued with the burden of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). While studies have identified factors that influence SAM, efforts have not been made to decompose the educational inequalities across the individual, neighbourhood and national levels in LMIC. This study aims to decompose educational-related inequalities in the prevalence of SAM across LMIC.Methods We pooled successive secondary data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted between 2010 and 2018 in 51 LMIC. We analysed data of 532,680 under-five children nested within 55,823 neighbourhoods. Severe acute malnutrition was the outcome variable while the literacy status of mothers (literate vs illiterate) was the main exposure variable. The explanatory variables cut across the individual-, household and neighbourhood-level factors of the mothers-children pair. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method was used to analyse the educational gap in the factors associated with SAM.Results Mothers with no formal education ranged from 0.1% in Armenia and Kyrgyz to as much as 86.1% in Niger. The overall prevalence of SAM in the group of children whose mothers had no education was 5.8% compared with 4.2% among those whose mothers were educated. Thirteen countries had statistically significant pro-illiterate inequality (i.e. SAM concentrated among uneducated mothers) while none of the countries showed statistically significant pro-literate inequality. There were variations in the important factors responsible for the educational inequalities across the countries. On average, neighbourhood socioeconomic status disadvantage, location of residence were the most important factors in most countries. Other contributors to the explanation of educational inequalities are birth weight, maternal age and toilet type.Conclusions We identified that SAM is prevalent in most LMIC with wide educational inequalities. The occurrence of SAM was explained by the individual, household and community-level factor. A potential strategy to reduce the burden of SAM to reduce educational inequalities among mothers in the low- and middle-income countries through the promotion of women education.