Why is stunting highest in Western Uganda?

Résumé

Stunted children have a high risk of death, and over 30 percent of under-5 children in Sub-Saharan Africa are affected. In Uganda, 29 percent of children under five are stunted, and this has remained high over the last decade but is worse in the Western region of the country. We used pooled Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) data from 2001 to 2016, obtained from the measure DHS website, to establish factors that could explain stunting among children aged 24 to 59 months by applying a logistic regression model. Results show that children whose mothers had attained higher levels of education were significantly associated with reduced odds (0.2) of stunting compared to those with no education. Children whose mothers had not received health information were significantly associated with increased odds (1.3) of stunting. Children who had had diarrhoea two weeks before the survey were associated with higher odds (1.5) of stunting compared to those who did not have it. Male children were also significantly associated with increased odds (1.2) of stunting compared to females. Children from empowered mothers were significantly associated with reduced odds (0.7) of stunting compared to those who were not empowered. The findings call for increased education of the girl child, access to health information for mothers, prevention, prompt treatment of diarrhoea, care of the boy-child, and sensitization aimed at empowering women.