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Children who live in households where the mother is not present may not receive the same
quality of care and nurture than if they lived with their natural mothers. Comparing these two groups
of children may therefore be of interest. Children of noninterviewed mothers who are not living in the
household are more likely to be stunted but less likely to be underweight than children of interviewed
mothers (a difference of 4 percentage points). There is little difference in weight-for-age between these
two groups of children.
11.10 NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN
The Ethiopia DHS also collected anthropometric data from all women age 15-49. Women’s
nutritional status is important both as an indicator of overall health and as a predictor of pregnancy
outcome for both mother and child. Two indices of women’s nutritional status are presented in Table
11.12: height and body mass index (BMI). Maternal height is a measure of past nutritional status and
reflects in part the cumulative effect of social and economic outcomes on access to nutritional foods
during childhood and adolescence. It can be used to predict the risks associated with difficult deliveries,
since small stature is often associated with small pelvis size and a greater likelihood of obstructed labor.
Short stature is also correlated with low birth weight in infants, high risk of still births, and high rates
of miscarriage. The height below which a woman is considered to be at nutritional risk is in the range
Table 11.12 Nutritional status of women by background characteristics
Among women age 15-49, mean height and percentage of women under 145 centimetres, mean
body mass index (BMI), and percentage of women whose BMI (kg/m 2 ) is below 18.5, by selected
background characteristics, Ethiopia 2000
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Height
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BMI (kg/m 2 )
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Number
Number
Background Percentage of Percentage of
characteristic Mean