Change in malnutrition among under-5 children in Mali: a comparative analysis of 2012–13 and 2018 and exploration of determinants

Malnutrition is a severe problem in Africa and South East Asia. Mali is one of the countries where 0–59-month-old children suffer from acute malnutrition. Hence, to monitor the health and health services, this study is aimed at identifying the change in malnutrition in under-5 children and its determinants.

Recent two rounds of data for Mali country were extracted from the demographic and health surveys (DHS) website (https://dhsprogram.com/data/) to study the change in nutritional status and determinants. Both round data were analyzed by using bi-variate, z-test, and binary logistic regression techniques.

In Mali, stunting, wasting, and underweight children were found to be 26.7%, 8.9%, and 18.5%, respectively. In addition, significant change in socio-demographic and health predictors was seen in stunting and underweight from 2012–13 to 2018. Change in the prevalence of wasting was significant in all groups of selected predictors except in the group of size and weight at birth. The education level of the mother, institutional delivery, antenatal care, mother’s anemia, tetanus injection, birth interval, mother’s body mass index (BMI), currently breastfeeding, type of residence, toilet facility, and wealth index were significantly associated with chronic malnutrition.

Mother and social factors were the major cause of malnutrition in the country. Hence, there is a need a policy actions with a better monitoring system for improving accessibility and availability of health services at different social classes and economic levels.