Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Acute Malnutrition Among Children Aged 6-59 Months in Harorays Woreda

<i>Background: </i>Malnutrition continues to be a major public health problem in developing countries and in Ethiopia wasting is one of the most serious public health problems. High wasting rates in the country pose a significance obstacle to achieving better child health outcomes. <i>Methods: </i>A community based cross sectional study was conducted on 428 children aged 6-59 months from January to March 2023 in Harorays Woreda. Simple random sampling technique was used to select Kebeles and Children from each Kebeles. Anthropometric measurements and structured questioners were used. Data were processed using Epi-data version 3.1 software and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Bi-variable analysis was carried out to see the association between each independent variable and the dependent variable. All variables with p-value <0.25 during bi-variate analysis was entered multivariate logistic regression analysis to control for all possible confounders and to identify factors associated with the outcome variable. Odds ratio along with 95% confidence interval was estimated to measure the strength of association. Level of statistical significance was declared at p-value less or equal to 0.05. <i>Result: </i>The analysis of the anthropometric indices revealed that the prevalence of wasting is 36.4% (95%CI: 31.7%, 41.0%). Regarding the associated factors of wasting, the multivariable regression analysis revealed that living in rural residence, being illiterate, poor income status, increased family size, late initiation of breast feeding, diarrhea in the last two weeks, poor dietary diversity, presence of diarrhea in the last two weeks, pre-lactal feeding and child immunization were independent predictors for wasting. <i>Conclusion and recommendation: </i>The prevalence of wasting in this study area was found to be very high according to WHO classification. Living in rural residence, being illiterate, poor income status, increased family size, late initiation of breast feeding, diarrhea in the last two weeks, poor dietary diversity, presence of diarrhea in the last two weeks, pre-lactal feeding and child immunization were independent predictors for wasting.