Nutritional status of children under five years old involved in a seasonal malaria chemoprevention study in the Nanyumbu and Masasi districts in Tanzania

Bruno P Mmbando; Richard O Mwaiswelo; Frank Chacky; Fabrizio Molteni; Ally Mohamed; Samwel Lazaro; Billy Ngasala

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0267670

Nutritional status of children under five years old involved in a seasonal malaria chemoprevention study in the Nanyumbu and Masasi districts in Tanzania

PLoS One. 2022 Apr 29;17(4):e0267670. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267670. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Bruno P Mmbando¹, Richard O Mwaiswelo², Frank Chacky³, Fabrizio Molteni³, Ally Mohamed³, Samwel Lazaro³, Billy Ngasala⁴

Affiliations

¹ National Institute for Medical Research, Tanga Centre, Tanga, Tanzania.
² Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Hubert Kairuki Memorial University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
³ National Malaria Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Dodoma, Tanzania.
⁴ Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition and malaria are common co-morbidities in low-income countries, especially among under-fives children. But the malnutrition situation in Masasi and Nanyumbu districts, its interaction with malaria infection and the influence of socioeconomic factors are not well understood.

Methods: Children aged between 3-59 months in Masasi and Nanyumbu were screened for nutritional status and malaria infection in the community. Nutritional status was determined using age and anthropometric parameters. Z-scores (weight for age (WAZ), height for age (HAZ) and weight for height (WHZ)) were calculated based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) growth reference curves. Malaria infection was determined using malaria rapid diagnostic test and microscopy. Hemoglobin concentration was assessed using HemoCue spectrophotometer, and anemia was classified as hemoglobin concentration < 11.0g/dL. Structured questionnaire was used to collect socio- demographic information electronically.

Results: A total of 2242 children, 1539 (68.6%) from Masasi and 1169 (52.1%) females were involved in the study. The mean z-scores (WAZ = -0.60 and HAZ = -1.56) were lower than the WHO reference population. The overall prevalence of malnutrition was 49%, and it was significantly higher in Nanyumbu (52.5%) than in Masasi (47.3%), (x2 = 5.045, p = 0.025). Prevalence of malnutrition was higher in boys (53.0%) than in girls (45.0%) (x2 = 13.9, p < 0.001). Stunting was the most prevalent component of undernutrition; it was slightly prevalent in Nanyumbu (46.5%) compared to Masasi (42.0%), (x2 = 3.624, p = 0.057) and in boys (48.2%) than in girls (39.1%), x2 = 17.44, p<0.001. Only 15.8% of the undernourished children had malaria infection. Sex, age group and anaemia were significantly associated with undernourishment (p<0.05), while district and malaria infection were marginally (p≤0.06) associated with undernourishment. None of the undernutrition indices was associated with malaria infection.

Conclusion: Undernutrition was highly prevalent in the study population and was influenced sex, age, anaemia and malaria infection. More emphasis is needed to address the malnutrition problem especially stunting in Masasi and Nanyumbu districts.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anemia* / epidemiology
Chemoprevention
Child
Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Growth Disorders / epidemiology
Hemoglobins
Humans
Infant
Malaria* / epidemiology
Malaria* / prevention & control
Male
Malnutrition* / epidemiology
Nutritional Status
Seasons
Tanzania / epidemiology

Substances

Hemoglobins

Grants and funding

BN Global Fund The funder did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.