Abstract

Using data from the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (1988), this study investigates the factors that determine the nutritional status of children under five years of age. Several sociocultural, economic, and demographic variables were selected for the study. These independent variables were regressed against three proxy measures of malnutrition: height-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height. The results show that the nutritional status of a child is determined by a variety of factors that are biological, social, cultural, and economic in nature, namely, birth status, birth weight, diarrhoeal status, duration of breastfeeding, and residence. The study concludes that most of the factors that account for malnutrition in children in Zimbabwe are preventable.

PIP:

In order to investigate the factors which determine the nutritional status of children under age five years in Zimbabwe, data from the 1988 Demographic and Health Survey were submitted to multivariate analysis with logistic regression equations run for the dependent variables of height-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height. The independent variable were mother's education, income, breast feeding status, weaning procedure, birth intervals, culture, water and sanitation, family size, rural/urban location, and other causes of malnutrition. A review of the literature includes the information that 29% of Zimbabwean children aged 3-60 months were short in relation to their age when compared with an international reference population. Analysis of the height-for-age measure showed a positive correlation between malnutrition and rural residence, birth status (infants in multiple births are more likely to be malnourished), lower birth weight, shorter birth interval, and suffering from diarrhea. Weight-for-age measures revealed the protective importance of maternal education, urban residence, higher birth weight, better diarrheal status, single birth, and better breast feeding status. Using weight-for-height as the dependent variable revealed duration of breast feeding as the sole significant variable. Thus, it appears that birth status, birth weight, diarrheal status, duration of breast feeding, and residence are the most significant determinants of malnutrition. It is concluded that a multi-disciplinary approach will be needed to combat the socioeconomic factors which determine malnutrition. Additional research, including arm measurement, is recommended to validate these results.