Anthropometric Approach to Child Poverty : Assessing Nutritional Status and Vulnerability to Child Malnutrition; Evidence From Assela, Adama and Modjo Towns

This study will explore the extent of nutritional poverty in Adama, Assela and Modjo towns using micro analytical anthropometrics indices like wasting, stunting, underweight and vulnerability to malnutrition models. In the contemporary world income poverty level of individual is too shallow to explain the overall welfare. These measures are different from traditional income/consumption measures of poverty because they capture wider dimension of poverty and living standard. Growth status of children can clearly implicate the degree of short term exposure to risk and disturbances and long term malnutrition. Moreover, the study will explore pushing factors behind nutritional poverty. Development of the country can only be taken to the peak as long as we settle nutritional system to international standard level development of family that can ensure futuristic, thoughtful and innovative future generation. Econometrics models like logistic and weighted feasible linear regression models have been used to estimate parameters and its correlates in the three towns. Result of the model proves that about 55% of children in the three towns are vulnerable to malnutrition regardless of living standard of their family. Children and family related assets, length of breast feed, food intake level, growth environment and education level are negatively affecting vulnerability to malnutrition, wasting, stunting and underweight of children while fosterage, income inequality, birth order, family size are positively influencing child poverty. It has been widely and deeply observed that children from these towns are highly vulnerable to nutritional poverty. Therefore, food price inflation should be kept minimum to guarantee easy food access by all individuals living in the country to have mentally and physically developed children