Comparison of Nutritional Status of Pre-school Children from Households with Home Garden and Without Home Garden in Wondogenet Woreda, South Ethiopia

Objective: Malnutrition is a worldwide prevalent problem. Under-nutrition segment of the condition is common in the developing world. Under-nutrition, because of being the result of multiple interlinked factors it needs intervention from different angles. Agriculture, home garden production, is one of the ways to address under-nutrition through food-based approach. Pre-school children are risky for under-nutrition. Though they are expected to benefit from the home garden products, their nutritional status was not assessed in consideration of home garden practice of households where they reside. Therefore, this study was aimed to compare nutritional status of pre-school children from households with and without home garden in Wondogenat Woreda, South Ethiopia. Patients and Methods: Comparative community based cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 430 pre-school children selected using simple random sampling technique. Z-score of anthropometric status was generated using WHO Anthro. Entire data was analyzed SPSS version 20. Frequencies and proportions of basic information were calculated. Independent sample t-test was used to compare z-score mean value of nutritional status of the pre-school children. Results: From households with home garden 41% of the children were stunted, 28% were under-weight and 8% were wasted. From households without home garden 44% of the children were stunted, 30% were underweight and 8.8% were wasted. Mean of weight for age Z-score (p<0.0001), height for age Z-score (p<0.026) and weight for height Z-score (p<0.0001) of children from households with and without home garden was different. All forms of under-nutrition are prevalent both in households with and without home garden. Mean values of weight for height, height for age and weight for age Z-scores of pre-school children from households with and without home garden are different.