Risk Factors for Severe Malnutrition in Under Five Children in Medan City

Malnutrition in children under five years remains a serious public health problem. Medan city as the capital of the province of North Sumatera has the highest case of severe malnutrition compared to 32 districts/cities. Whereas the Medan City Health Office has made efforts maximally to reduce the number of severe malnourished. This study aimed to determine factors influenced the incidence of malnutrition in the Medan City by using unmatched case-control design. The sample consisted of 101 cases of children under five suffering from malnutrition recorded in Medan City Health Office during the month of May 2013 and 101 children under five did not suffer from severe malnutrition who lived closed to the cases. Malnutrition was determined by using the indicator weight-for height below -3 deviation standard of the WHO-NCHS. Data were collected by interviewing children under five's mothers directly and analyzed using multiple logistic regression. The result showed the factors that play a role together in the incidence of malnutrition in children under five in City of Medan were food intake (OR = 2.51, 95% CI 1.39 - 4.55), caring pattern (OR = 1.89, 95 % CI = 1.06 - 3.39) and health services (OR = 1.87, 95% CI 1.03 - 3.40). It was expected that mothers should pay attention and provide food with varied menu that children's nutrition needs fulfilled and improve caring patern.