Prevalence of Stunting and Associated Factors Among Under Five Years Children in Galkaio Town, Puntland, Somalia 2023: A cross-sectional study design

Abstract

Background: Stunting is a frequent dietary issue that mostly affects less industrialized countries, such as Somalia. Even so, the Somali government has made some progress towards achieving the target for stunting, but still, 25.3% of children under five years old are stunted. If the annual decreasing proportion continues at this rate, Somalia will not be able to meet the established target set by the WHO in 2012, which was to reduce stunting by 40% by 2025. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of stunting among children aged 6-59 months. Methods and materials: A cross-sectional study with a community focus was carried out. among 362 children aged 6–59 months matched with mothers and caregivers. Districts served as first-stage units, villages served as second-stage units, and houses served as third-stage units in the multistage sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used, and the mothers and caregivers were interviewed. Standardized anthropometric measurements were used to measure the child’s height. Version 3.1 of Epi Data was used to enter the data, and SPSS version 20 was used for analysis.  Result: The overall prevalence of stunting among children between the ages of 6 and 59 months in this study was 37.3%, 95% CI (32.6–42.5). Polygamous marriage to father [AOR = 2.824; 95% CI: (1.60, 4.98)], educational status of mother [AOR = 2.502; 95% CI: (1.28, 4.90)], sex of child [AOR = 2.079; 95% CI: (1.27, 3.41)], time to initiation of breastfeeding [AOR = 3.212; 95% CI: (1.95, 5.29)], exclusive breastfeeding [AOR = 1.725; 95% CI: (1.01, 2.96)], minimum dietary diversity score [AOR = 2.579; 95% CI: (1.30, 5.28)], and postnatal care visits of mothers [AOR = 2.688; 95% CI: (1.60, 4.52)] were significantly associated with stunting. Conclusion: The prevalence of stunting among children aged 6–59 months was higher than that among the national population. The polygamous marriage of the father, educational status of the mother, sex of the child, time for initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, minimum dietary diversity score, and postnatal care visits of the mother were significantly associated with stunting.