Stunting and Its Determinants among Adolescent Girls: Findings from the Nutrition Surveillance Project, Northwest Ethiopia

Under nutrition among adolescents is a major public health problem in Ethiopia and its causes are under investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of stunting and its determinants among adolescent girls in Dabat district. A total of 1556 adolescent girls were included in the study. The WHO’s Anthro-plus software was used to generate the height for age z-scores. Variables having a p-value<0.2 in the simple logistic regression were entered into multiple logistic regression and a p-value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. About 47.4%(95%CI; 45.0, 49.6%) of adolescent girls were stunted. Being in the early (AOR = 0.027, 95%CI: 0.08, 0.09) and middle age (AOR = 0.21, 95%CI: 0.06, 0.71) were less likely to be stunted compared with the late adolescent. The odds of stunting were found to be higher among adolescent of rural area (AOR = 1.45; 95%CI: 1.01, 2.10) and from household food in-secured (AOR = 1.33; 95%CI: 1.02, 1.73)families. Higher numbers of adolescent girls are stunted in Dabat district, suggesting severe public health importance of the problem. Age, residence and food security were associated with adolescent stunting. Thus, improving food security strategies targeting rural and food insecure households is recommended. Abbreviations: AOR= Adjusted Odd Ratio,CI= Confidence Interval, COR= Crude Odd Ratio, ENSSPI=Establishing Nutrition Surveillance System and Piloting Interventions HAZ=Height for Age, HDSS=Health and Demographic Surveillance System, HFSS=Household Food Security Status, INDEPTH=International Network of Demographic Evaluation of Population and Their Health, IQR=Inter Quartile Range, NNP=National Nutrition Program, NSHFP=National School Health and Feeding Program, SPSS=Statically Package for Social Science, WHO= World Health Organization.