Epidemiology of stunting in children aged 6–59 months, an unresolved chronic nutritional problem in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: In developing countries as well as Ethiopia, stunting continues to be a major public health burden. Thus, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to synthesize the updated pooled prevalence and its determinants of stunting in Ethiopia. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis follow the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The protocol has been registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, University of York Center for Reviews, and disseminated at https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/ , with the registration number (CRD42024542984). A wide-ranging literature search was carried out using PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, Hinari, AJOL, and Google Scholar. All lists of qualified study references from 2013 to 2023 were recovered. The pooled estimate with a 95% CI was calculated using a random-effects model in STATA version 13 software. I2 and meta-bias statistics were used to assess the heterogeneity of the incorporated studies. Results: This study included 29 articles with a total of 23,511 participants from 29 qualified studies. The current study found that the pooled prevalence of stunting among children aged 6–59 months was 43% (95% CI: 42–44). Children who were not exclusively breastfed (OR = 2.39; 95% CI: 1.61–3.54), male children (OR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.13–2.31), children whose mothers had no antenatal care follow-up (OR = 3.03; 95% CI: 1.36–6.76), and women who had no formal education (OR = 4.55; 95% CI: 2.29–9.05) were significantly associated with stunting. Conclusions: In Ethiopia, nearly half of the children suffer from stunting, with those who are not breastfed, the sex of the child, children whose mothers had no antenatal care follow-up, and had no formal education having higher odds of stunting. To reduce the burden, strategies must be designed to intervene and improve maternal health literacy, focusing on children’s nutrition and health-care utilization.