ResearchArticle Prevalence of Undernutrition and Associated Factors among Lactating Mothers of Angecha District, Kembata Tembaro Zone, Southern Ethiopia Moges Muluneh Boke , 1 Aman Yesuf, 2 and Befikadu Tariku Gutema 3 1 University of Gondar School of Public Health, Gondar, Ethiopia 2 St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3 School of Public Health, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoBefikaduTarikuGutema;befikadutariku2@gmail.com Received 19 December 2020; Revised 4 April 2021; Accepted 22 April 2021; Published 27 April 2021 AcademicEditor:ElsaLamy Copyright©2021MogesMulunehBokeetal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Major reasons for malnutrition, particularly among those who live in low- and middle-income countries, are physiologicalvulnerabilityandinadequateintake.eobjectiveofthestudywastoassesstheprevalenceofundernutritionand associatedfactorsamonglactatingmothersofAngechaDistrict,SouthernEthiopia. Methods.Acommunity-basedcross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected lactating mothers in Angecha District from March to April 2017. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to assess the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among lactating mothers. Undernutritionwasdefinedasthebodymassindexoflessthan18.5kg/m 2 .Amultivariablelogisticregressionmodelwasfitted, andtheadjustedoddsratio(AOR)ata p valuelessthan0.05wasusedtodetermineastatisticallysignificantassociationbetween predictors and outcome variables. Result.eprevalenceofundernutritionamonglactatingmotherswas21.2%(95%CI:17.52, 25.46). e odds of undernutrition were higher among lactating mothers in the younger age group (AOR 4.12 (95% CI: 1.25–13.63),comparedto36–49yearsgroup),dietarydiversitylessthanfivefoodgroups(AOR2.4,95%CI:1.35–4.36),andnot attendingantenatalcare(ANC)(AOR2.90(95%CI:1.43–5.86),comparedtothosewhoattendedANCfor4ormoretimes).e oddsofundernutritionamonglactatingwomenfrom3 rd quantilewealthindexhouseholdsreducedbynearlyhalf(AOR0.47,95% CI: 0.23–0.98) compared to lactating mothers from 1 st quantile wealth index households. Conclusion. Nearly one in every five lactatingmotherswasundernourished.Age,dietarydiversityscore,ANCvisit,andwealthindexwerefoundtobetheassociated factors of undernutrition. erefore, due attention should have to be given to increase the use of ANC. 1. Background Nutritionhasafundamentalroleinhumanlife,health,and development throughout the entire lifespan, and its defi- ciency is prevalent in many countries [1, 2]. In low- and middle-income countries, maternal and child undernutri- tion related mortality and morbidity remain inescapable. Undernutrition is the underlying cause of 20% of maternal death and prevalent among lactating women in many re- gions of the world. In most countries, maternal undernu- trition(BMIlessthan18.5kg/m 2 )rangesfrom10%to19% [2–4]. A serious problem of maternal undernutrition was markedinmostSub-SaharanAfricacountries,wheretwoin every 10 women were undernourished [5]. Similarly, a re- portbasedonEthiopianDHS2016showedthattwoinevery ten women suffered from undernutrition in Ethiopia [6]. Maternal nutrition is important to child survival and development [7]. Lactating mothers’ nutritional status and intake determine some of the nutritional components of breastmilkandchildnutritionalstatusasevidencerevealed thatnutrientcontent,specificallytheconcentrationsoffatty acids, iodine, fat, vitamin A, thiamin, and cobalamin, de- pendsoncorrespondingdietaryintakesofthesenutrientsin the maternal diet and lactating women’s nutritional status Hindawi Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism Volume 2021, Article ID 6691982, 8 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6691982