OBJECTIVE: To delineate the prevalence of undernutrition in under-five children and its association with age and gender in a rural area of Southwest Sumba, Indonesia.
METHODS: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study analyzing secondary anthropometric data from nutrition clinic in Tena Teke community health centre (CHC) in Southwest Sumba, Indonesia. All anthropometric data from children age 1 to 59 month in year 2018 were included to be analyzed. Only the first visit in the year on a subject with multiple visits were included and those with incomplete or inappropriate data were excluded. Anthropometric data was later categorized according to WHO z-score. Subject’s characteristics were presented as proportion and percentages. Chi-square test was done to assess the association of age and gender with the prevalence and severity of undernutrition with the significance level of <0.05.
RESULT: A total of 701 children aged 1-59 months was included. Male(53.6%) and female(46.4%) were almost equally represented. Around 49.6%, 41.5% and 19.1% of the children were categorized as stunting, underweight and wasting, respectively. Undernutrition prevalence was found to be the lowest in children aged 1-5 months. Wasting and underweight have the highest rate in 6-23 months group, while stunting was the highest in 24-59 months group. The rate of undernutrition was higher in male gender. The prevalence and severity of stunting, underweight and wasting were associated with the age of the children, while gender was found to be not associated with these indicators.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of stunting and underweight were found to be high in under-five children in the rural area of Southwest Sumba, Indonesia. Children under-6 months were least affected by undernutrition while older children found to be more vurnerable. Age was associated with the prevalence and severity of stunting, underweight and wasting. No association found between gender and the prevalence and severity of undernutrition.