Determination of Major Predictors of Anemia and its Distribution among children below the age of 5 years in Uganda. A Binary and Spatial Analysis.

Aneamia is a major public health concern, and it is one of the leading causes of morbidities and mortalities among infantsglobally according to world Health Organization. This study aimed at determining anemia prevalence, understanding its major risk factors and spatial distribution among children below the age of 5 years in Ugandan population. Data from a total of; 7,124 children, 8,868 mothers of reproductive age, and 8,957 households was used in the study. Results show majority of the mothers in this study were between age [20-29] (N=3,753; 52.7%) and those who could not read at all were (N=3157; 44.3%), (N=5117;71.8%) resided in rural areas. Majority of these households were headed by men (N=5191;72.9%). Mothers who did not complete primary education represented the majority category (N=3,081;42.2%). Severe to mild cases of anemia were (N=3,387;52.6%) and households that belonged to poorest and poorer wealth quintiles (N=4,090;57.4%). Children who had their hemoglobin measurements taken (N=6,443;90.4%) and male children were (N=3,612;50.7%). Binary logistic regression analysis identified the following predictors to be significantly associated with the likelihood to anemia. The odds for education reduced as its level increased from one category to the other; having no education [OR:1.368; 95% CI; p-value 0.067]. Literacy was also found to have inverse association with likelihood to anemia [OR:1.185; 95% CI; p-value 0.005]. The odds to anemia reduced with increase in wealth quintile: poorest category had the highest odds [OR:1.378; 95% CI; p-value 0.004]. Rural residence had the highest odds to anemia [OR:1.418: 95%CI; p-value; 0.005]. The youngest category of mothers (15-19 years) had a higher likelihood of having children with anemia [OR: 1.728: 95% CI; p-value 0.024] compared to older mothers (44-49 years). Male children were more likely to have anemia compared to female children [OR: 1.182; 95% CI; p-value, o.001] while increase in their age of child had inverse relationship with the likelihood to anemia. Children who were one year and less had a higher likelihood to suffer from anemia compared with older children [OR:4.075; 95% CI; p-value 0.005]. The spatial distribution mapping results show that anemia was uniformly distributed throughout the whole country with differences in frequency distributions. Northeast, Southwest, Northeast and Eastern regions had the highest cases whereas central region had the least cases of anemia. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of improving maternal education and income levels, improved access to health facilities as strategy to reduce the burden of anaemia among children under 5 years in Uganda.

Keywords:Anemia, children under age 5, Infants, maternal and Child Health.