Abstract:

Introduction: Malnutrition is a major health problem; it is characterized by inadequate or excess of food intake such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and micronutrients such as vitamins. Malnutrition countries to be a major public health problem in developing countries. This study was conducted to assess the nutritional status, prevalence and the risk factors related to malnutrition to under-five children attending at Geita district hospital’s Reproductive and Child Health clinic.

Methodology: A hospital based cross sectional study was done. A total of 217 under-five children attending the RCH clinic were selected by using systematic random sampling technique. Questionnaire and MUAC tape measure were used to collect data. Prevalence and frequencies of the risk factor and other parameters were calculated using descriptive statistics of SPSS.

Results: Among 217 children who participated in this study, 56 children (25.8%) were suffering from malnutrition based on MUAC. A prevalence of children suffering from severe malnutrition in this study was 0.9%, while those who were suffering from moderate and mild malnutrition were 4.6% and 23.3% respectively. Food insecurity, family’s drinking water preparations, poor wearing practices of children and high numbers of children in a particular family were seen to be among of the predominant risk factors.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the prevalence of malnutrition in Geita district was still high and hence was still a public health problem. Food insecurity, poor feeding practices of the children, chronic illness, worm’s infestations, incomplete vaccination and poor domestic water sanitation were significantly associated with both acute and chronic malnutrition.