Factors Associated with Stunting among Children Aged 0 to 59 Months from the Central Region of Mozambique

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the major socio demographic, health, and environmental determinants of stunting among children aged 0–59 months from the Tete province (Mozambique) and off ering useful information for future healthcare strategies and interventions. A case-control study was conducted among 282 children under fi ve years of age from the central region of Mozambique between 1 May and 3 June 2014. Children with stunting (HAZ ≤ -2SD from the WHO Child Growth Standards median for the same age and sex) were considered as cases and those who had a Z > -2SD were considered as controls. We collected data related to mothers and children and their environment, and they were assessed in two groups to fi nd a possible association. The software used for data analysis was the SPSS® (version, 21.0). The results showed that birth weight, mother’s educational status, maternal occupation, living in a rural area, family size, number of children under fi ve years of age in the household, cooking with charcoal, inhabiting wooden or straw housing or housing without proper fl oors, overall duration of breastfeeding as well as exclusive breastfeeding, and time of initiation of complementary feeding were signifi cantly related to stunting. Thus, appropriate nutritional intervention programmes considering these determinants and the dissemination of knowledge at the population level related to undernutrition are necessary to ameliorate the children´s nutritional status.