Malnutrition Among Under-five Children in Tawila Administrative Unit (TAU) at Tawila Locality in North Darfur State in Sudan, 2017

Malnutrition in all its forms is still a major public health problem in the world, especially in developing countries, including Sudan. It’s an underlying factor in over 50% of deaths in children under five years of age who die each year from preventable causes. Malnutrition prevents children from reaching their full physical and mental potential. The Specific objective of this paper was to determine the magnitude of malnutrition among children aged 6-59 months in Tawila Administrative Unit (TAU) in Tawila locality in North Darfur State at Sudan, 2017. This paper was comparative cross-sectional community-based study applied the quantitative research method. Five-hundred and ninety seven children at the age ranged between 6-59-month were studied. To assess the malnutrition status of the children under the study, anthropometric measurements for height, weight and edema examination were applied. The collected data analyzed by using Epidemiological Information (Epi-Info), emergency nutritional assessment software version 11 (ENA). The anthropometric result was classification based on WHO standard, 2006. The results showed that the prevalence rate of wasting was 14.7% (10.4 - 20.4 95% C.I.), stunting was 48.9% (44.1 - 53.8 95% C.I.) and underweight was 35.6% (30.4 - 41.1 95% C.I.). Male children and those aged between (12 -23 months) are at higher risk of acute malnutrition and those aged (12-35 month) are at higher risk to stunting and underweight. The study concluded that the malnutrition is an important major public health problem among under five children ages in Tawila locality. Under-five children in Tawila locality suffer high rates of malnutrition. Therefore, health facility-based interventions, community-based program, nutritional education programs are strongly recommended in Tawila locality. In addition to that ensuring food security including the availability and adequacy of general rations (including iodized salt and fortified grain/cereals).