Mari Okabe
Meio University, Japan
Title: The Factors Associated with Stunting Among School Children Aged 12 to 15 years in Malawi
Biography
Biography: Mari Okabe
Abstract
Stunting is known to be associated with poor outcomes in childhood, adolescent, adulthood, and next generation. However, there are opportunity windows for catch-up growth and adolescence is one of the important opportunity windows. On the other hand, Malawi has a high stunting prevalence in under-5 children, however, the stunting prevalence of adolescent is unknown. There is a need to assess adolescent stunting in Malawi.
The Study design was a secondary data analysis using the data from Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) in Malawi. GSHS used a self-administered questionnaire assessing anthropometric measurement, dietary behaviours, hygiene, violence and unintentional injury, mental health, tobacco use, alcohol use and sexual behaviours. The association between stunting and 41 explanatory variables were described and odds ratios (adjusted/unadjusted) were obtained. Then, multivariate logistic regression investigated a fully adjusted odds ratio for the association between the explanatory variables and the outcome. A total of 2224 students aged 12-15 years were included in the analysis. The overall stunting was 21%. Stunting prevalence was higher in males (30%) than females (11%) (OR 0.30, 95%CI 0.22-0.43, p-value<0.0001). Stunting prevalence was higher in rural (22%) than urban schools (8.7%) (OR 0.34, 95%CI 0.19-0.59, p-value 0.0003). There was a strong association between stunting and sex, area and ‘washing hands after using the toilet’ (p-values < 0.001).
The intervention concerning adolescent stunting needs special consideration for sex and regional (urban/rural) equity. Moreover, a multi-sector intervention is recommended such as nutrition and hygiene. Further researches including non-school attending adolescents and socioeconomic factors are needed.