Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls from Rural Communities of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

A Mulugeta, F Hagos, B Stoecker, G Kruseman, V Linderhof, Z Abraha, M Yohannes, GG Samuel

Abstract


Background: Addressing the nutritional needs of adolescents could be an important step towards breaking the vicious cycle of intergenerational malnutrition.
Objective: Assess nutritional status of rural adolescent girls.
Design: Cross-sectional.
Methods: Anthropometric and socio-demographic information from 211 adolescent girls representing 650 randomly selected households from thirteen communities in Tigray was used in data analysis. Height-for-age and BMI-for-age were compared to the 2007 WHO growth reference. Data were analyzed using SAS, Version 9.1.
Results: None of the households reported access to adolescent micronutrient supplementation. The girls were shorter and thinner than the 2007 WHO reference population. The cross-sectional prevalence of stunting and thinness were 26.5% and 58.3%, respectively. Lack of latrine facilities was significantly associated with stunting (p = 0.0033) and
thinness (p

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Ethiopian Journal of Health Development.   ISSN: 1021-6790