Open Journal of Nursing, 2020, 10, 239-251
https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojn
ISSN Online: 2162-5344
ISSN Print: 2162-5336
DOI: 10.4236/ojn.2020.103016 Mar. 24, 2020 239 Open Journal of Nursing
The Prevalence and Determinants of Stunting
among Children 6 - 59 Months of Age in One of
the Sub-Counties in the Rwenzori Sub-Region,
Western Uganda
Enos Mirembe Masereka
1,2,3*
, Arthur Kiconco
3
, Edson Katsomyo
2
, Clement Munguiko
2,4
1
Department of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Medicine, Kabale University, Kabale, Uganda
2
Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Mountains of the Moon University, Fort Portal, Uganda
3
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Uganda Martyrs University, Kampala, Uganda
4
Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Soroti University, Soroti, Uganda
Abstract
Introduction: Despite being referred to as one of the country’s “food
baskets”, 41% of children, 6 - 59 months of age in the Rwenzori sub-region,
Western Uganda are stunted. Stunting is a form of chronic malnutrition in
which children are short for their age. In this study, we established the preva-
lence and determinants of stunting in one of the sub-counties in this region.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in one of
the sub-counties in the Rwenzori sub-region, Western Uganda from May 26
th
to June 26
th
, 2018. A total of 372 mothers and their children were recruited
using systematic sampling. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Stunting
was determined by taking child’s height or length and comparing it with
child’s age. A child whose height or length for age index was less than −2
Standard Deviations (SD) was considered stunted. We used descriptive statis-
tics to understand characteristics of mothers and multivariable logistic re-
gression model to obtain the determinants of stunting. Data was analyzed
using SPSS version 20. Results: A total of 372 mothers and their children
were included in this study; majority, 307 (83.0%) of the children were 6 - 24
months old and nearly half, 167 (44.9%) were stunted. We found that reserv-
ing food stock for use in the dry season (aOR = 0.23, CI = 0.08 - 0.62, p =
0.004), deworming children (aOR = 0.32, CI = 0.18 - 0.54, p = 0.001) and the
family earning at least 10,000 Ushs (2.7USD) at the end of the month (aOR =
0.36, CI = 0.22 - 0.58, P = 0.001) were associated with no stunting. Conclu-
sions: We found a high prevalence of stunting among children 6 - 59 months
How to cite this paper: Masereka, E.M.,
Kiconco, A., Katsomyo, E. and Munguiko,
C. (2020) The Prevalence and Determinants
of Stunting among Children 6 - 59 Months
of Age in One of the Sub-Counties in the
Rwenzori Sub-Region, Western Uganda.
Open Journal of Nursing, 10, 239-251.
https://doi.org/10.4236/ojn.2020.103016
Received: February 14, 2020
Accepted: March 21, 2020
Published: March 24, 2020
Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access