Nutritional status of less than five children is the result of complex interactions between food consumption and the overall status of health and health care practices. Appropriate and adequate feeding is a pre-requisite to good nutritional status in any given time of human life because consumption of nutritionally inadequate diet leads to malnutrition(6).
Severe acute malnutrition which is one form of acute Malnutrition remains one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children throughout the world and it is the major public health problems in the developing countries having a devastating effect on the lives of children under the age of five (7).
Clinical identification of children with SAM can be done with the criteria…show more content… The vast majority of children suffering from either severe or moderate acute malnutrition are found in the developing world. Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia totally they account 52 millions 90% of cases and each has 13 million 9.4%, 28 million 15% and 5 million 10% of under-fives in the respective regions. Generally, severe acute malnutrition holds 25-35 million under fives worldwide (9, 11,…show more content… Even though all regions of Ethiopia are affected by SAM, The prevalence of severe acute malnutrition is higher in some regions and lower in others (13). SAM is a major childhood public health challenge in Ethiopia, especially during emergencies. Recent studies show that Amhara 2.3%; Oromiya 1.9% ;Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples 1.9% Tigray 4.8% ; Benishangul-Gumuz 8.8%; Gambela 4.9%; Harari 1% ;Addis Ababa 1.4%; Dire Dawa 4%;Somali 10.9% and Afar 9.3%. In many health facilities the mortality rate from severe acute malnutrition at present is over 20%(13,