Assessment Of The Relationship Between Under-nutrition And Malaria In Preschool Children At Bahir Dar Special Zone Ethiopia A Comparative Cross-sectional Study

Background: Malaria and under-nutrition are the two major causes of childhood mortality in sub-rnSaharan Africa. More than half of child mortality related to major infectious diseases is attributedrnat least in part to under nutrition. In Ethiopia both under nutrition and malaria are very importantrnpublic health problem. Although the relationship of malnutrition and respiratory infection,rndiarrheal diseases is well studied, the relation with malaria is still controversial. The informationrnthat obtained in this study will help to develop clear guideline on management of under nutritionrnand malaria at individual as well as at community level.rnObjective: To assess the relationship between under- nutrition and malaria in preschool childrenrnat Bahir Dar special zone, EthiopiarnMethodology: A cross sectional study that compared two groups (with confirmed malaria andrnwithout confirmed malaria) was conducted to assess the relationship between malaria and undernutritionrnat Bahir Dar special zone. A total of 621 Samples was calculated based on sample sizerncalculation for comparative cross sectional study design using EpiInfo Statcalc. Anthropometricrnmeasurements and clinical data were recorded by trained clinical nurses and blood film resultsrnwere taken by laboratory technician in respective health centers. Stunting, wasting, andrnunderweight of children were determined using the International Reference Population defined byrnthe WHO using WHO Anthro software. Data were entered using EpiInfo version 3.5.4 andrntransformed to SPSS version 21 for cleaning and analysis.rnResult: The prevalence rates of stunting, underweight and wasting were 50.3%, 34.2% and 12.1%rnamong cases respectively. Stunting (AOR = 1.614; 95%C.I. = 1.192–2.514), underweight (AORrn= 1.690; 95%C.I. = 1.112– 2.903) and wasting (AOR = 2.44; 95%C.I. = 1.15–5.20) werernsignificantly associated with confirmed cases of malaria. Other important predictors were place ofrnresidence (rural) (AOR = 2.35; 95%C.I. = 1.39 – 3.98), sex (male) (AOR = 1.88; 95%C.I. = 1.19rn– 2.98), LLIN use (AOR = 0.20; 95%C.I. = 0.13 – 0.33), IRS (AOR = 0.26; 95%C.I. = 0.15 – 0.43)rnand educational status of the mother (above grade 12) (AOR = 0.30; 95%C.I. = 0.11 – 0.79).rnConclusion and Recommendation: the major contributor factors to malaria were wasting,rnstunting, underweight, rural residence, male sex, LLIN use, indoor residual spray and lowrneducational status of the mother/caregiver. Therefore, governmental and non-governmentalrnorganizations need to consider integration of malaria control program with nutrition intervention.

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