Malnutrition, in particular child malnutrition is arnserious problem in the developing world. However itsrnmagnitude and fact ors are seldom well defined. Hence, arncross-sect i ona l study with internal comparisons wasrnconducted in Meskan ena Mareko Woreda, Butajira, betweenrnOctober 1994 and January 1995. The study aimed atrnassessing nutritional status and its determinants amongrnunder-five children. The study population was i dentifiedrnfrom under - fives of of 10 villages sampled PPS . Data onrnvariables of child, care-taker and householdrncharacteristi cs; child morbidity and care were gatheredrnthrough an interview . Anthropometric measurments werernused to determine child's weight, height and MUAC.rnResults showed that 25.1% were underweight, 43.3%rnstunted and 4.0% wasted. Children < 6 months old werernleast affected with underweight and stunting . Those 12-23rnand 24-59 months old were affected most with underweightrnand stunting, respectively. Age , birth order, spacing andrnbreast feeding were significantl y associated withrnnutritional status. Similarl y , altitude, income, foodrnsufficiency were strongl y associated to nutritionalrnstatus ( OR:1.41 , 95% CI:1.18 - 1.67, OR:0.63, 95% CI : 0.53-rn0.75, OR : 2.45, 95% CI:2.04-2.94, respectively). Alsorneducation of mothers' and fathers', were significantlyrnassoci ated with nutritional status. Child illnesses, werernstrongly (OR :4. 38, 95% CI :3 . 71-5 .1 6) , while type of carernduring illness were weakly associated.rnFrom the study i t is concluded that malnutrition isrnhighly prevalent and infections, poverty and lack ofrnIrnformal education are at t he roots of Â·it. Improvement ofrnsocioeconomic factors, in particular f ood availabilityrnand knowledgernchild heal thrnare necessary,. With these , integration ofrnservices with other s ectors of socioeconomicrndevelopment is also indispensable