Socio- economic status and household practices influence on undernutrition among children under five years in the Effutu municipality

Introduction: Malnutrition is an underlying factor in many diseases for both children and adults and is particularly prevalent in developing countries. Malnutrition has been a worldwide problem which is being tackled in various ways and is usually prevalent among children in developing economies. The purpose of the study was to examine the Socio- economic status and household practices influence on undernutrition among children under five years in the Effutu Municipality. Methodology: A community-based research was conducted to assess the nutritional status of children under five years in Effutu municipality for a total of 350 children. A simple random sampling was used to select the communities for the study. Modified random walk was use to select the households from housing units. With the use of a pre-tested and structured questionnaire, data on children and care givers was collected. WHO Anthro software version 3.2.1 was used in determining the z-scores and SPSS software version 20 was used to perform univariate, and bivariate logistic regression analysis. A p<0.05 was deemed statistically significant. Results: Out of the 350 children under five, the most prevalent undernutrition case was stunting (59%). Stunting was most prevalent among children in the age group of 12-23 months (35.5%). Number of times child feeds daily is the only house hold practice that is associated with stunting at 95% significant level. Children whose parents were unemployed were almost twice likely to be stunted than those who were self-employed (OR=1.902 95% CI, 114 - 3.246). Children with parents who earn less than Ghc100 were about 10 times more likely to be stunted than those who earn more than Ghc1000 (OR=10.179; 95% CI, 2.198 - 47.145). Conclusion: The study showed that of the economic factors, mother’s occupation and household income was significantly associated with their child being stunted. The number of times a child feeds in a day was significantly associated with their child being stunted.