ArticleNutrition reviews2025
The Prevalence and Determinants of Undernutrition Among Infants and Children Aged 6 Months to 5 Years in Sub-Saharan African Countries: A Systematic Scoping Review.
Article in Nutrition reviews, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Community-Based Interventions for Childhood Undernutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Coexisting burden of maternal and child undernutrition in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Prevalence and factors contributing to severe undernutrition in children on antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs in Ilala District, Tanzania.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial and Nutritional Properties of Edible Oyster Mushroom (Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors Associated with Child Undernutrition and Growth Failure in Eastern Africa.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Establishing tropical medicine as a recognized medical specialty or strengthening its training within infectious diseases residency programs in Colombia: an urgent need.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2026Article
- Factors associated with malnutrition among children aged 6-59 months in Burao, Somaliland.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- RISE: a novel unified framework for feature relevance in malnutrition analytics integrating statistical and expert insights.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
objectiveTo explore the prevalence and determinants of undernutrition among infants and children aged 6 months to 5 years in sub-Saharan African countries.
backgroundDespite substantial progress over the past 20 years, undernutrition has remained an alarming global challenge. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where the prevalence of stunting in children younger than 5 years has significantly increased. This study seeks to update the evidence on the prevalence and determinants of childhood undernutrition in this vulnerable region.
methodsThis systematic scoping review was conducted following the 2018 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews. Five electronic databases were searched on December 14, 2022, with no date or language restrictions. Primary studies presenting evidence on the prevalence and determinants of childhood undernutrition among infants and children aged 6 months to 5 years were included. Data on the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight, and on determinants of undernutrition were extracted, described, and compared with national survey data.
resultsA total of 59 publications from 11 countries were included, with most studies conducted in Ethiopia (n = 38) and Tanzania (n = 7). Stunting prevalence ranged from 8% to 64%, wasting prevalence ranged from 1% to 58%, and the prevalence of underweight ranged from 2% to 63%. The most frequently reported determinants of undernutrition were the child's age (>24 months), male sex, maternal illiteracy, diarrhea or illness in the past 2 weeks, low household socioeconomic status, or living in a larger household (n > 4 members). Overall, 56% of the included studies reported higher stunting prevalence, 60% reported higher wasting prevalence, and 57% reported a higher prevalence of underweight than reported by relevant national surveys.
conclusionThe prevalence of childhood undernutrition reported by primary studies is often higher than that reported by national surveys. Several immediate and underlying determinants influence childhood undernutrition. Future research should incorporate the findings from primary research to develop holistic, multistrategy approaches to address childhood undernutrition in sub-Saharan African countries.
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