Factors Associated With Stunting And Its Prevalence Among Children Below 5 Years Old In Musanze District Of Rwanda

Abstract

Stunting among children below five years old affected 44% in Rwanda and more than 61% in Musanze District in 2012. The main objective was to establish the prevalence of stunting and its associated factors among children below five years old in Musanze District of Rwanda. A cross sectional study was carried out in Musanze District where a multi-cluster sampling was applied to select 529 children systematically from 30 clusters. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. SPSS and WHO Anthro computer software were used for data analysis. A binary logistic regression was used to find out the model of contributing factors. The level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05. The prevalence of stunting was found at 41%. An increased risk of stunting was associated with household headed by female (OR=1.370, P≤0.001), absence of kitchen garden (OR=1.436, P≤0.001), nonuse of industrial fertilizer (OR=1.228, P≤0.001), mother aged between 20 and 34 years old (OR=2.036, P≤0.001), less than four times prenatal consultations (OR=1.477, P≤0.001), children aged 6-23 years old (OR=3.358, P≤0.001), not exclusively breastfed (OR=2.319, P≤0.001), not continued to breastfeed (OR=1.507, P≤0.001), low dietary diversity (OR=1.981, P≤0.001), and absence of hand washing facility (OR=2.742, P≤0.001). The present study showed that the following factors were found to be reducing risks of stunting. These are monogamous households (OR=0.430, P≤0.001), high wealth index (OR=0.478, P≤0.001), education of the mother from primary to the university (OR=0.256; P≤0.001), (OR=0.356; P≤0.001), (OR=0.357, P≤0.001), (OR=0.124, P≤0.001), revenue productive activities of the mother such as trading, art craft and vii salaried jobs (OR=0.442, P≤0.001) (OR=0.359, P≤0.001), (OR=0.620, P≤0.001), female child (OR=0.418, P≤0.001), use of safe water (OR=0.597, P≤0.001), household without open defecation (OR=0.810, P≤0.001), and no waste lying around (OR=0.287, P≤0.001). The prevalence of stunting among children below five years old in Musanze District of Rwanda was 41%. The factors associated with stunting are polygamy, food insecurity, education and occupation of the mother, poor hygiene, poor care giving and poor feeding practices. The stakeholders should focus on above mentioned factors to fight against stunting.