Social Factors Contributing to Stunting for Children under Five Years: A Case of Iringa District Council, Tanzania

Abstract

This study presented the findings on the factors contributing to stunting for children under five years in Iringa District Council. This study involved four wards and two villages from each ward. The target population for this study included parents with stunted children under five years and 26 key informants. The study employed mixed approaches which involve both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, Cross-sectional research design was used. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to get parents with stunted children and key respondents. The study used both primary and secondary data to acquire intended information. Questionnaires, interview and Document review was used by a researcher. The high prevalence of stunting was revealed by this study to be influenced by social factors such as lack of nutritional knowledge, large size of household members, child characteristics, inadequate dietary intake, lack of knowledge on purse of a thousand days, poor child care practice, excessive use of alcohol, poor breastfeeding and complementary feeding of early milk were found as the key factors influencing stunting. Government could come up with innovative strategies to educate parents about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding until six months, feeding practices, purse of thousand days, and the strategies of addressing excessive use of alcohol should be implemented. The researcher suggests further research to be conducted to analyse a bigger area, also future researchers have a duty to focus on the additional indicators of stunting prevalence that could not be included owing to time and resource constraints.