Determinants of Child Malnutrition: Empirical Evidence from Kombolcha District of Eastern Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Child nutrition remains one of the most important development concerns of the Ethiopian government. In view of the fact that child malnutrition cannot be tackled without understanding its causes, the paper explores the key determinants of child malnutrition in Kombolcha districts of Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia. The study used a two-stage sampling procedure to collect cross-sectional data from 249 under five years of age children. The data collected were analyzed and discussed using several descriptive statistics and logit regression model. The survey result revealed that 45.8%, 28.9% and 11.2% of sample children are stunted, underweight and wasted, respectively. The estimation results indicate that child nutritional status is strongly associated with the child’s age, gender, immunization status and the mother’s use of antenatal care, farm size, household size, water source, latrine use and incidence of morbidity. The paper concludes by highlighting some policy interventions required to raise child nutrition status.