Prevalence of undernutrition and risk factors of severe undernutrition among children admitted to Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza, Tanzania

Developing a context-relevant psychosocial stimulation intervention to promote cognitive development of children with severe acute malnutrition in Mwanza, Tanzania

More than 250 million children will not meet their developmental potential due to poverty and malnutrition. Psychosocial stimulation has shown promising effects for improving development in children exposed to severe acute malnutrition (SAM) but programs are rarely implemented. In this study, we used qualitative methods to inform the development of a psychosocial stimulation programme to be integrated with SAM treatment in Mwanza, Tanzania. We conducted in-depth interviews with seven caregivers of children recently treated for SAM and nine professionals in early child development. We used thematic content analysis and group feedback sessions and organised our results within the Nurturing Care Framework. Common barriers to stimulate child development included financial and food insecurity, competing time demands, low awareness about importance of responsive caregiving and stimulating environment, poor father involvement, and gender inequality. Caregivers and professionals suggested that community-based support after SAM treatment and counselling on psychosocial stimulation would be helpful, e.g., how to create homemade toys and stimulate through involvement in everyday chores. Based on the findings of this study we developed a context-relevant psychosocial stimulation programme. Some issues identified were structural highlighting the need for programmes to be linked with broader supportive initiatives.

Spatial regression models to assess variations of composite index for anthropometric failure across the administrative zones in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND

There are a number of previous studies that investigated undernutrition and its determinants in Ethiopia. However, the national average in the level of undernutrition conceals large variation across administrative zones of Ethiopia. Hence, this study aimed to determine the geographic distribution of composite index for anthropometric failure (CIAF) and identify the influencing factors it' might be more appropriate.

METHODS

We used the zonal-level undernutrition data for the under-five children in Ethiopia from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) dataset. Different spatial models were applied to explore the spatial distribution of the CIAF and the covariates.

RESULTS

The Univariate Moran's I statistics for CIAF showed spatial heterogeneity of undernutrition in Ethiopian administrative zones. The spatial autocorrelation model (SAC) was the best fit based on the AIC criteria. Results from the SAC model suggested that the CIAF was positively associated with mothers' illiteracy rate (0.61, pvalue 0.001), lower body mass index (0.92, pvalue = 0.023), and maximum temperature (0.2, pvalue = 0.0231) respectively. However, the CIAF was negatively associated with children without any comorbidity (-0.82, pvalue = 0.023), from families with accessibility of improved drinking water (-0.26, pvalue = 0.012), and minimum temperature (-0.16).

CONCLUSION

The CIAF across the administrative zones of Ethiopia is spatially clustered. Improving women's education, improving drinking water, and improving child breast feeding can reduce the prevalence of undernutrition (CIAF) across Ethiopian administrative zones. Moreover, targeted intervention in the geographical hotspots of CIAF can reduce the burden of CIAF across the administrative zones.

Spatial data analysis of malnutrition among children under-five years in Ethiopia

Background

Childhood malnutrition is a major cause of child mortality under the age of 5 in the sub-Saharan Africa region. This study sought to identify the risk factors and spatial distribution of the composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF).

Methods

Secondary data from 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2016 Ethiopian Health and Demographic Survey (EDHS) were used. The generalized geo-additive mixed model was adopted via the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) with a binomial family and logit link function.

Results

The CIAF status of children was found to be positively associated with the male gender, the potency of contracting a disease, and multiple births. However, it was negatively associated with family wealth quartiles, parental level of education, place of residence, unemployment status of mothers, improved sanitation, media exposure, and survey years. Moreover, the study revealed significant spatial variations on the level of CIAF among administrative zones.

Conclusions

The generalized geo-additive mixed-effects model results identified gender of the child, presence of comorbidity, size of child at birth, dietary diversity, birth type, place of residence, age of the child, parental level of education, wealth index, sanitation facilities, and media exposure as main drivers of CIAF. The results would help decision-makers to develop and carry out target-oriented programs.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12874-021-01391-x.

Oral candidiasis in HIV-uninfected pediatric population in areas with limited fungal diagnosis: A case study from a tertiary hospital, Tanzania

BACKGROUND

Oral candidiasis (OC) is an indirect indicator of cell-mediated immunodeficiency with a high predictive value of disseminated candidiasis. Here, we report the prevalence and factors associated with laboratory-confirmed OC in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-uninfected children with clinical OC attending the outpatient clinic or admitted in pediatric wards of the Bugando Medical Center (BMC).

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and June 2017. Social demographic and clinical data were collected using a pre-tested data collection tool. Oral swabs were collected using a sterile cotton swab and mycological culture was done to detect Candida spp. followed by susceptibility testing as per European Committee on Antimicrobial Testing (EUCAST) guidelines. Data were analyzed using STATA version 13 following study objectives.

RESULTS

A total of 325 non-repetitive oral swabs from HIV-uninfected children aged between 2 and 156 months were collected. Candida spp. were detected in 123 (37.8%) children. One (1.8%) C. albicans isolate was resistant to fluconazole, voriconazole, and posaconazole with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 256 μg/ml, 32 μg/ml, and 0.31 μg/ml, respectively. Upon multivariate logistic regression analysis, being a male child (OR 2, 95% CI 1.2-3.2, p = 0.008) and having a history of antibiotic use (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.8, p = 0.017) independently predicted laboratory-confirmed OC among HIV-uninfected children.

CONCLUSION

Only a third of children with clinical OC were laboratory confirmed, and this was more likely in male children with a history of antibiotic use. Most of the isolates were highly susceptible to commonly used antifungal agents like fluconazole. Treatment of children at risk should be prioritized to reduce associated morbidity.

Predictors of undesirable treatment outcomes of severe acute malnutrition among inpatient children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a retrospective cohort study

Background

In 2018, malnutrition contributed to 45% of all global cause of child death. These early child deaths were due to conditions that could either be prevented or treated with basic interventions. Hence, this study intended to provide a quantitative estimate of factors associated with undesirable treatment outcomes of severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

Methods

We studied a retrospective cohort of 304 children aged 6–59 months with complicated SAM admitted to Yekatit 12 Hospital Medical College from 2013 to 2016. We extracted data from hospital records on nutritional status, socio-demographic factors and medical conditions during admission. The analysis was carried out using SPSS version 20. The Kaplan-Meier estimator was employed to analyze the recovery rate of the children treated for SAM and multivariable Cox regression was used to determine factors that predict inpatient undesirable treatment outcomes.

Result

From a total of 304 children 6–59 months with SAM, 133 (51.4%) were boys. Marasmus was the most common type (132 (51%)) of severe acute malnutrition. The recovery, death and defaulter rate were 70.4, 12.2 and 8.2% respectively. The main predictors of undesirable treatment outcomes were found to be the presence of HIV antibody (AHR = 3.208; 95% CI: [1.045–9.846]) and sepsis (AHR = 7.677, 95% CI: [2.320–25.404]).

Conclusion

The study revealed that the overall treatment outcomes were below the SPHERE standard recommendation. The main predictors of undesirable treatment outcomes among inpatient children treated for SAM were HIV and sepsis. Intervention to reduce undesirable treatment outcomes should focus on comorbidities, especially HIV and sepsis.

The burden and correlates of childhood undernutrition in Tanzania according to composite index of anthropometric failure

Background

Undernutrition is a public health problem worldwide. Tanzania has made significant achievements in the reduction of childhood undernutrition over the past two decades. However, the exact burden of undernutrition was under-estimated when using conventional indices of stunting, wasting and underweight. The objective of this study was to determine the overall prevalence of undernutrition, describe the trends and examine the correlates associated with undernutrition among children under-five years using the composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF). This study aims to understand the real burden and drivers of undernutrition to improve design, implementation and monitoring of appropriate interventions to ameliorate all form of childhood undernutrition in the country.

Methods

About 37,205 mother-child pairs were retrieved and analyzed from the Tanzania Demographic and Health Surveys (TDHS) conducted in various years from 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004–05, 2009–10, to 2015–16. The anthropometric data of children under-five years were used to determine the overall burden and trends of undernutrition using CIAF. The recent TDHS surveys from 2005 to 2015 were used to examine the correlates of CIAF. To determine the correlates, multivariate analysis was conducted to estimate the prevalence ratios (PR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Poisson regression with robust variance.

Results

The prevalence of CIAF declined significantly from 50% in 1991 to 38.2% in 2015 (p < 0.001). The correlates of CIAF vary across surveys. The multivariate analysis of recent 2015 survey revealed that the prevalence of CIAF was significantly higher for older children (p < 0.001), children living in rural areas (p = 0.028), and those born with non-educated (p = 0.009) or single mothers (p = 0.008). The prevalence of CIAF was significantly lower for girls (p < 0.001), being born with overweight/obese mothers (p < 0.001), living with older head of the household (p < 0.001) or living in richest household (p < 0.001). Moreover, children who were born with low birth weight (p < 0.001), or having fever (p = 0.044) were most likely to have anthropometric failure. However, consumption of diversified diet was not found to be associated with anthropometric failure (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

About one in every three under-five years children are suffering from either one or multiple forms of anthropometric failure in Tanzania. There is a significant decline trends in overall burden of undernutrition in Tanzania from the past 25 years, as measured by CIAF. Multiple factors including those related to mothers, children and household socio-economic characteristics have the potential to influence childhood undernutrition. Efforts to reduce the burden of undernutrition should mainly focus on reducing poverty and raising people’s living standards.

Risk Factors Associated with Under-Five Stunting, Wasting, and Underweight Based on Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey Datasets in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND

Stunting, wasting, and underweight among children are major problems in most regions of Ethiopia, including the Tigray region. The main objective of this study was to assess the risk factors associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight of children in the Tigray region.

METHODS

The information collected from 1077 children born 5 years before the survey was considered in the analysis. Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was fitted to identify significant risk factors associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight.

RESULTS

Male children and rural born were having a higher burden of both severe and moderate stunting, wasting, and underweight than females and urban born. Among male children, 27.6%, 4.10%, and 14.2% of them were stunted, wasted, and underweight, respectively. Protected drinking water (odds ratio (OR) = 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.50, 0.92)) was associated with stunting. Maternal age at birth less than 20 years (OR = 0.66; 95% CI: (0.45, 0.97)) and being male (OR = 2.04; 95% CI: (1.13, 3.68)) were associated with high risk of underweight. No antenatal care follow-up (OR = 2.20; 95% CI: (1.04, 4.64)) was associated with wasting, while the poor wealth index, diarrhea, low weight at birth (<2.5 kg), lower age of a child, and 3 or more under-five children in a household were significantly associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight.

CONCLUSIONS

Being born in rural, being male, unprotected drinking water, smaller weight at birth, no antenatal follow-ups, diarrhea, and poor household wealth were factors associated with increased stunting, wasting, and underweight. Thus, interventions that focus on utilization of antenatal care services, improving household wealth, and improving access to protected drinking water were required by policymakers to decrease stunting, wasting, and underweight more rapidly.

Very severe anemia and one year mortality outcome after hospitalization in Tanzanian children: A prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Africa has the highest rates of child mortality. Little is known about outcomes after hospitalization for children with very severe anemia.

OBJECTIVE

To determine one year mortality and predictors of mortality in Tanzanian children hospitalized with very severe anemia.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective cohort study enrolling children 2-12 years hospitalized from August 2014 to November 2014 at two public hospitals in northwestern Tanzania. Children were screened for anemia and followed until 12 months after discharge. The primary outcome measured was mortality. Predictors of mortality were determined using Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS

Of the 505 children, 90 (17.8%) had very severe anemia and 415 (82.1%) did not. Mortality was higher for children with very severe anemia compared to children without over a one year period from admission, 27/90 (30.0%) vs. 59/415 (14.2%) respectively (Hazard Ratio (HR) 2.42, 95% Cl 1.53-3.83). In-hospital mortality was 11/90 (12.2%) and post-hospital mortality was 16/79 (20.2%) for children with very severe anemia. The strongest predictors of mortality were age (HR 1.01, 95% Cl 1.00-1.03) and decreased urine output (HR 4.30, 95% Cl 1.04-17.7).

CONCLUSIONS

Children up to 12 years of age with very severe anemia have nearly a 30% chance of mortality following admission over a one year period, with over 50% of mortality occurring after discharge. Post-hospital interventions are urgently needed to reduce mortality in children with very severe anemia, and should include older children.

Co-morbidity, treatment outcomes and factors affecting the recovery rate of under -five children with severe acute malnutrition admitted in selected hospitals from Ethiopia: retrospective follow up study

BACKGROUND

In spite of the availability of guidelines for the management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Ethiopia, high comorbidity and poor treatment outcomes are still observed in therapeutic feeding centers among under -five children with SAM. The aim of this study was to assess comorbidity, treatment outcomes and factors affecting the recovery rate of children aged 1-59 months with SAM admitted into Therapeutic Feeding Centers (TFCs).

METHODS

A total of 413 records of children with SAM admitted in three selected hospitals from July 2013 to July 2015 G.C were retrospectively reviewed. Descriptive analysis was used to compare performance indicator values with SPHERE project reference standards (the minimum standard to be attained during nutritional therapy). Cox-proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to estimate the predictors of recovery rate at p-value < 0.05.

RESULT

The mean age of children was 16 months (95% CI, 15.0, 17.0). Out of 413 children with SAM, 231 (55.9%) recovered, 24 (5.8%) died and 16.3% were defaulted from TFCs. The mean weight gain (in gram per weight of kilogram per day) for recovered children was 15.61 g/kg/day (95% CI, 14.15, 17.07). The overall median recovery time for these children was 12 days (95% CI, 11.22, 12.78). Moreover, most (77.5%) of children admitted with SAM were marasmic followed by Kwash (16%). Pneumonia (54.8%), diarrhea (41.8%) and rickets (21.4%) were co-morbidities which affected SAM children. A child being admitted at Mehal Meda Hospital (Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) = 2.01; 95% CI: 1.34, 2.91), edematous form of malnutrition (AHR = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.90) and being a child infected with pneumonia (AHR = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.51, 0.98) were predictors of nutritional recovery rate.

CONCLUSION

Under five pneumonia, diarrhea and rickets were co-morbidities that should be prevented. Recovery rate was poor when compared to SPHERE project reference value (which is > 75%). Predictors, namely presence of pneumonia and edematous form of malnutrition reduced nutritional recovery rate. Whereas, being admitted at Mehal Meda Hospital improved recovery rate. Therefore, hospitals should work in collaboration with health extension workers to prevent co-morbidities and strengthen screening and referral of malnutrition cases at community level. Moreover, Zonal Health Department and District Health Offices should facilitate experience sharing among health facilities.