THE DIMENSIONS OF UNDERNUTRITION AND MALNUTRITION AND THEIR DEMOGRAPHIC CORRELATES IN THREE COMMUNITIES OF ARSI REGION IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The study was undertaken in three communities which are located around Eteya town in Arsi Region, Ethiopia. The sampling strategy was based on a
general purposive criterion of selection due to time alld cost considerations as well as
ease of enumeration and supervision. The overall sample size was [IXed at three
villageslcommunities with comparable number of private and co-operative households.
It covered 701 households, consisting of 359 private and 342 co-operative farming
households respectively with 3676 persons and 641 pre-school children. .
The main objectives of the study were two-fold alld they were to:
1. estimate the level of undernutrition of the households and malnutrition of the
pre-school children in the three study communities,' alld
2. investigate the influence of some selected demographic variables on the
nutritional status of the households as well as the pre-school children.
The results of the study indicated that the level of undernutrition of the communities
was found to be ranging from about 54 percent for the cooperative households to about
63 percent for the private farming households and the size of the malnourished preschool
children in the two farming sectors ranged from about 43 percent facing
underweight to 67 percent experiencing stunting, with notable differentials among male
and female-headed households. The variations ilt the nutritional status among male and
female-headed households were explained by their demographic composition and
economic activities in which the female-headed households were characterized by small
family size and engag~ in both agricultural and non-agricultural activities such as