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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1475104
This article is part of the Research Topic X-raying Zero Hunger (SDG2) Targets in Africa and Other Regions: Progress, Synergies, Opportunities, and Challenges Volume II View all articles

Investigating severe acute malnutrition outbreak in Dubti District, Awsiresu Zone, Afar region, Northeast Ethiopia (2022)

Provisionally accepted
Abiyie Demelash Abiyie Demelash 1*Dawit Zenebe Dawit Zenebe 2Kedir A. Mahamud Kedir A. Mahamud 3Fentahun A. Worku Fentahun A. Worku 3Aman Y. Endries Aman Y. Endries 1
  • 1 St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 2 Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia
  • 3 Afar Public Health Institute, Samara, Afar, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Ethiopia is a global hotspot for child malnutrition, with an estimated 1.2 million children under five affected by severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in 2022. In response, the country has integrated SAM into its broader disease surveillance system. In January 2022, the Dubti District Health Office in the Afar region detected an unusual surge in SAM cases through its surveillance system. This study aimed to assess the extent of the outbreak and identify its risk factors.Methods: We conducted an unmatched case-control study involving 258 mother-child dyads in five affected Kebeles in Dubti District, Afar region Ethiopia. The descriptive study included all 442 SAM cases in the line list while 86 cases and 168 controls were selected using a simple random sampling method for analytic study. The data were entered into Epi-Data software version 3.1, and analyzed via SPSS software version 25.0. Binary logistic regression was performed to identify SAM risk factors. Statistically, the results were summarized using AORs, 95% CIs and p< 0.05 Results: The median age of cases was 22 months, with an interquartile range of 12-34 months. A total of 39 deaths were reported, case fatality rate (CFR) 8.82%. The SAM risk factors included family size > 5 (AOR = 3.341, 95% CI: 1.475-7.563), under-five children > 5 (AOR = 4.442, 95% CI: 2.000-9.866), unvaccination (AOR = 3.641, 95% CI: 1.618-8.198), pneumonia (AOR = 5.61, 95% CI: 2.488-12.651), diarrhea (AOR = 4.68, 95% CI: 2.169-10.097), lack of access to sanitation and hygiene (AOR = 3.18, 95% CI: 1.462-6.934), and household food insecurity (AOR = 9.46, 95% CI: 2.095-42.712).The study revealed a significant SAM outbreak, with a CFR of 8.82%. The outbreak was associated with large family size and under-five children, unvaccination, pneumonia and 3 diarrheal disease. These findings underscore the need to safeguard essential child health services, water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and household food security.

    Keywords: Malnutrition, Severe acute malnutrition, outbreak, investigation, Risk factors, Ethiopia

    Received: 02 Aug 2024; Accepted: 21 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Demelash, Zenebe, Mahamud, Worku and Endries. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Abiyie Demelash, St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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