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Research Article: High-risk fertility behaviour and undernutrition among children under-five in sub-Saharan Africa: a cross-sectional study

Date Published: 2023-06-27

Abstract:
Objective The study examined high-risk fertility behaviour and its association with under-five undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Design We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from 32 sub-Saharan African countries’ Demographic and Health Surveys. A weighted sample of 110 522?mother-child pairs was included in final analysis. Multilevel binary logistic regression was used to examine the association between high-risk fertility behaviour and undernutrition. The results were presented using adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Setting Thirty-two countries in SSA. Outcome measure Stunting, wasting, and underweight. Results The pooled prevalence of stunting was 31.3%, ranging from 15.0% in Gabon to 51.7% in Burundi. Wasting was highest among children from Burkina Faso (19.1%) and lowest among those from South Africa (1.6%). The overall prevalence of wasting was 8.1%. The prevalence of underweight was 17.0%, with the highest among children in Niger (37.1%) and lowest in South Africa (4.8%). Mothers who gave birth at the age less than 18 years and those with short birth interval were more likely to have their children being stunted, wasted, and underweight. The odds of stunting and wasting were high among children born to women with high parity. However, maternal age at birth more than 34 was associated with lower odds of childhood underweight as against those with age at birth less than 34. Conclusion Countries in SSA are encouraged to address the issue of maternal age at birth less than 18, high parity, and shorter birth intervals in order to meet the Global Nutrition targets, which aim to achieve a 40% reduction in the number of stunted children under the age of 5 and to reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5% by 2025.

Introduction:
Globally, child undernutrition in the forms of wasting (weight-for height z-score<?2), stunting (height-for-age z-score<?2), and underweight (weight-for-age z-score<?2) continues to be a public health concern as closely half of all deaths in children under-five are attributable to undernutrition, especially in the low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). 1–4 The aforementioned are all nutritional problems affecting most children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Wasting occurs as a consequence of short-term…

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