Spatial Distribution and Modeling of malnutrition among under-five Children in Ethiopia

Abstract Background Majority of this world is concerned by malnutrition. Ethiopia is one of the Sub Saharan African countries known by poverty, childhood diseases, high mortality and poor infrastructures and technology. The study aimed to examine differences within individuals and between clusters in nutritional status of under-five children and to identify socioeconomic factors using adequate nutrition of children in Ethiopia. Method: Data was obtained from Ethiopian 2019 Mini Demographic and Health Survey surveyed by Ethiopian Public Health Institute. A weighted sub- sample of 8768 under-five children was drawn from the dataset. Spatial statistics was used to analysis spatial variations of malnutrition of children in clusters of regional areas of Ethiopia. Multilevel modeling was used to look at demographic, socioeconomic factors at individuals and clusters levels. Result At national level the proportion of stunting, underweight and wasting among under-five children were 39.5 percent, 29.8 percent and 15.4 percent respectively. The Global Moran Index’s value for children malnutrition result in Ethiopia was (for stunting I = 0.204, P-value = < 0.0001, for underweight I = 0.195, P-value = < 0.0001 and for wasting I = 0.152, P-value = < 0.0001). Spatial variability of malnutrition of under-five children across the clusters of Ethiopia observed. Result of heterogeneity between clusters obtained was {X}^{2}=147.25, {X}^{2}=211.43 and {X}^{2}=201.43 respectively for stunting, underweight and wasting with P = < 0.0001 providing evidences of variation among regional clusters with respect to the status of nutrition of under-five children. Multilevel model result revealed that high differences of malnutrition in individual households and regional clusters in the under-five children in Ethiopia. Conclusion The model showed that there were spatial variations in malnutrition among clusters in Ethiopia. Child age in month, breast feeding, family educational level, wealth index, place of residence, media access and region were highly significantly associated with childhood malnutrition. Inclusion of explanatory variables in multilevel model has shown that a significant impact on variation in malnutrition among individual households and regional clusters. Accessible resources, promoting education, use media to expand activities regarding nutritional and health services and through health workers and health institutions in Ethiopia is significant.