Malnutrition in Children in Ethiopia

MALNUTRITION IN CHILDREN IN ETHIOPIA
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Malnutrition is considered to be a critical health problem in the nation of Ethiopia.
Malnutrition can be described as the health issue that results from consuming diets where one or
more nutrients are either not present in sufficient amount or are in so high amount that it creates
negative impacts. It can be of two types like under nutrition which results from not getting
enough proteins or calories or micronutrients in diets and the other is over nutrition which results
from overconsumption of similar nutrients. Ethiopia is mainly seen to suffer from under
nutrition. About 38% of the children have been reported to be from stunting. Stunting can be
described as the largely irreversible result from chronic under-nutrition that actually results in
weaker immune systems as well as diminished cognitive capacity (Wasihun et al. 2018). It has
been found that one in ten children in the Ethiopia is wasted and they are also found to be
suffering from acute malnutrition. This is indeed the leading cause of death in the children who
are under the age of 5 (Seid et al. 2017). This assignment would discuss the conditions of
malnutrition in Ethiopian children in details and critic the programs that had been initiated. This
would be followed by evidence-based interventions that would help in overcoming the barriers
faced by other programs to meet the goals of mitigation of malnutrition.
This has resulted in the hundreds of thousands of children who are facing death as well as
millions of people who never reach their full potential and that too because of a condition which
is preventable. However, it is not true that no impacts of any healthcare initiatives had taken
place (Seff et al. 2018). Studies opine that Ethiopia has indeed seen steady reduction in stunting
from that of 58% in the year 2000 to that of 38% in the year 2016 as well as the percentage of
underweight children from that of 41% to that of 24% during the same period. The percentage of
wasting among the children has reduced from that of 12% to 10 percent. Therefore, by analyzing
this trend, it can be indicated that there is indeed an improvement in the chronic malnutrition

over that of the past 15 years (Endris et al. 2017). However, it is still witnessed that 28% of the
child deaths in the nation has been associated with that of under-nutrition. In addition, the
researchers are of the opinion that a high prevalence of various forms of malnutrition among the
vulnerable groups has been found to have serious implications for the social development and
even in the economic growth.
A huge number of factors has been found to be associated with the high number of
malnutrition among the children in the nation. The UNICEF framework would be used for
identification of the determinants that should be discussed for identifying the causes of
malnutrition (Eshetu et al. 2016). Poor diet and disorders are found to be the immediate cause of
the malnutrition in the nation. Studies are of the opinion that if a child does not get adequate diet,
they would become malnourished. This can be mainly because of not enough food quantity or
because of lack of variety of foods in the meals along with low concentrations of energy and
nutrients in meals, infrequent meals (James et al. 2016). Another immediate cause of
malnutrition in the nation of Ethiopia is diseases mainly like that of the higher prevalence of
infectious disorders. This is because a sick child might not eat as well as absorb enough nutrients
or they might also lose nutrients from the body because of vomiting or that of diarrhea or might
be because of the increased nutrient needs that are not met. Malnutrition-infection cycle is found
to be quite high among the children in the nation with disorders like measles, respiratory
infections, diarrhea, malaria as well as intestinal worms (Kassa et al. 2017). Studies are of the
opinion that the underlying cause of poor diet and disorders vary among the various communities
in the nation as well as from family to family and can be grouped according to family food
shortages, inadequate care for the children as well as women, unhealthy environment as well as
poor health services and also the requirements to feed too many children. Another cause of

malnutrition found among the children in the nation is because of the workload of the mother,
lack of her access to different important resources and also her education. It has been found that
mothers in the nation are not educated about the food sources important for their children, their
amounts or the way they can take care of their children. Most women are uneducated and have
very little knowledge about childcare, hygiene and feeding. They do not seem to visit the women
groups where they could learn the skills for improving their lives and that of their families. Some
of the political factors can also be stated that results in the malnutrition like the ineffective policy
decisions and the economic situations which are often caused by the inflation or war) Idris et al.
2018). It had been found that Ethio-Eritrean war had created a vision of the high level of
malnutrition in the nation. Cultural factors often make it difficult for making the people that their
negative health beliefs have negative impacts on their child. This can be explained with the help
of an example, abrupt weaning because of the pregnancy as well as beliefs of the many
Ethiopians that food should not be given to children who are suffering from diarrhea and measles
all these need to poor health condition of the children making them suffer from depression
(Asres et al. 2018). Many of the Ethiopians believe that sharing of the food from the same bow;
between the children can make the child getting less than their body requirements. Social
conditions like poverty and lack of health literacy among people in the nation are some of the
causes resulting in malnutrition among the children.
The outcomes of malnutrition in the nation of Ethiopia among the children are found to
be multidimensional in nature. One of the most important outcomes is the increase in the risk of
the disorder as well as death. It has been found that malnutrition along with suboptimal feeding
practices as well as vitamin A deficiency results in significant lowering of the resistance towards
various infections and also result in dramatic increase towards the risk of ailments and deaths of