An assessment of the causes of malnutrition in Ethiopia: A ...

A rich food through popularization and educational media campaigns can contribute to
significantly reducing VAD.
Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA): IDA is the most common nutritional deficiency in
developing countries, although the limited studies carried out in Ethiopia have shown mixed
results. For the majority of the studies, the high prevalence rate of anemia (above 40.5
percent) was found to be due to parasitic infection and malaria and was not exclusively of
nutritional origin (ibid, 64).
Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD): Iodine is an essential element of the thyroid
hormones, which are basic ingredients for normal growth and physical and mental
development in humans and animals. The effect of IDD goes beyond the most familiar one of
goiter and is recognized as the greatest cause of preventable brain damage and mental
retardation globally, estimated to affect about 30 percent of the world’s population. In
Ethiopia, a goiter survey conducted by ENI revealed that about 50,000 prenatal deaths occur
annually due to IDD, about 26 percent of the population has acquired goiters, and about 62
percent of the total population is at risk of IDD (ibid, 65). Attempts are being made to
establish iodization facilities for the production of iodized salt in Ethiopia. It is reported that
at the time of writing about 28 percent of Ethiopian households were consuming iodized salt
(MOH 2004b). In Asia, in contrast, iodized salt is used by 60 percent of households (Mason
2000, 64).
Breastfeeding and supplementation: It is the tradition and culture of nearly all ethnic
groups in Ethiopia to exercise breastfeeding as common practice. While breast-feeding is
practiced by nearly 100 percent of mothers of infants in rural areas, it is less common in urban
areas, particularly among educated women. The biggest challenge to proper feeding of young
children is the unavailability of nutritious and affordable weaning foods for children 6 to 11
months old and above. This is the critical period in the life of the child that determines the
physical and mental development over her or his lifecycle.
2.2.5. Trends in malnutrition
National Nutrition Surveys were carried out by CSA in 1983, 1992, and 1998, which
focused on rural Ethiopia. Based on data collected, the three indicators of protein-energy
malnutrition (PEM) include weight-for-age (underweight), height-for-age (stunting) and
weight-for-height (wasting) could be computed. As shown in Table 2.6, data collected in 1983
and 1992 indicated that the underweight prevalence rate for rural areas increased from 37.3
percent to 46.9 percent respectively for children 6 to 59 months of age. The prevalence
declined to 42 percent in 1998 in children of 3 to 59 months of age. The decline during this
period needs to be qualified due to the inclusion of the lower age group. The prevalence of
Table 2.6: Trend in prevalence rates of underweight, stunting, and wasting, percent of
children under 5 years of age.
Status of children
CSA Surveys
Ethiopia
DHS
1983 1992 1998 1999/00
Underweight
(weight-for-age)
Stunting
(height-for-age)
Wasting
(weight-for-height)
37.3 46.9 42.0 47.2
60.7 64.0 52.0 51.5
8.0 9.3 9.0 10.5
Source: CSA 1999; CSA & ORC Macro 2001.
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