Prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months: a cross-sectional analysis from South-East Ethiopia

To meet the 2030 goal to end all types of malnutrition, thoroughly investigating and addressing context-specific factors of undernutrition is crucial. Therefore, this study assessed the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months in South-East Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 580 randomly sampled mother-child pairs in February 2022. Socio-demographic, dietary intake, household food security (HFS), maternal knowledge and practices of child feeding, and the child's weight and height data were collected. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was done. The prevalence of stunted, wasted, and underweight children was 32 & sdot;1, 7, and 9 %, respectively. Being male (AOR = 1 & sdot;75), not using the growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) service (AOR = 1 & sdot;50), household food insecurity (HFI) (AOR = 1 & sdot;67), lack of improved water (AOR = 2 & sdot;26), and bottle-feeding (AOR = 1 & sdot;54) were significantly associated with stunting. Being male (AOR = 3 & sdot;02), having low maternal knowledge on child-feeding practices (AOR = 3 & sdot;89), not listening to the radio/television (AOR = 3 & sdot;69), having a history of fever (AOR = 3 & sdot;39), bottle-feeding (AOR = 3 & sdot;58), and HFI (AOR = 3 & sdot;77) were significantly predicted wasting. Being male (AOR = 3 & sdot;44), not using GMP service (AOR = 2 & sdot;00), having a history of fever (AOR = 4 & sdot;24), lack of knowledge on optimal breastfeeding duration (AOR = 3 & sdot;58), low maternal knowledge on child feeding (AOR = 2 & sdot;21), HFI (AOR = 2 & sdot;04), and lack of improved water (AOR = 3 & sdot;00) showed significant association with underweight. In conclusion, stunting is alarmingly common while wasting and underweight are sub-optimal. Prevention of infectious disease, providing basic education for fathers, ensuring HFS; enhancing media access, maternal knowledge about IYCFP and improving water access; and GMP service utilisation are crucial to improve child nutrition.