Determinants Of Acute Malnutrition Among Under-five Years Children
[A CASE STUDY OF ILLELA LOCAL GOVERNMENT SOKOTO STATE, NIGERIA]

A  study  by Olwedo  et al.,(2008)  on the factors associated with malnutrition in internally displaced persons’ camps of Northern Uganda indicated that a male child was nearly two times  more likely to suffer from acute malnutrition  compared to a female child  (Adjusted odds Ratio of 1.56 at 95% C.I 1.15-2.13 with p-value=0.004**).  This  situation  could  be due to the fact that boys  are rare at home given the fact that they tend to be active running around in the neighbourhood as  compared to  female children who in most cases eat whatever  small feeds  that their mothers got since they are  always with  them at  home.  The above findings are contrary to the study findings in Araba and Kalmalo districts which found out that
2.3.2 AGE OF CHILD           
Recent  studies  have found  out that younger  children are  less likely to be malnourished than the older children. In the growth life cycle of children,  weaning and less breast milk  make them more vulnerable to under-five malnutrition. However, after weaning, the children begin to get  adequate nutrition when they get used to complementary feeding  (Shrimpton  et al.,2001).
It is important to note that specific ages, children’s nutritional status is sensitive to feeding, weaning practices, care, and exposure to infection.  A cumulative indicator of growth retardation (height-for-age) in children is positively associated with age. A study done in Ethiopia has also shown an increase in malnutrition with increase in age of the child (Yimer, 2000).  The  findings are similar in Araba andKalmalo districts where children aged 37-48 months were five times more likely to be underweight than their counterparts aged less than 12 months.
A study conducted by Nguyen and Kam in Vietnam found out that the risk of malnutrition increases with age of a child.  Children in theyoungest age group 0-11 months had significantly lower risk of being stunted, underweight and wasted than children in the older age groups (Nguyen and Kam., 2008).  The low risk to  malnutrition may  be due  to the protective effect  of  breastfeeding since  almost all  children are  breastfed throughout the  first year  of life. Higher rates of malnutrition after the 12 months are linkedto inappropriate food supplementation during the weaning period.
According to (UBOS and Macro International Inc, 2007),  malnutrition increases with the age of the child through the first three years of life before declining in the fourth and fifth year. The increase is especially rapid during the first two years of life, as evidenced in the rise from 13 percent among children aged 6-8 months to 45 percent among children aged 18-23 months.  It is expected that parents give less attention to older children when they give birth to a new child who needs much attention and care. Similar findings have been reported in different countries for instance in Kwara state of Nigeria (Babatunde, 2011), in Kenya (Kabubo-Mariara  et al.,  2006) and rural India (Sarmistha, 1999). The findings are plausible considering that many of the younger children are still being breastfed and chronic malnutrition sets in only after weaning ( Babatunde and Qaim, 2010).
2.3.3 BIRTH ORDER
Research findings indicate that malnutrition is rare among under-five children  of birth  order 2-3 and that higher birth order (5+) is positively associated with child malnutrition (Sommerfelt  et al.,  1994; Jeyaseelan, 1997).  In a study carried out among 6939 children underfive years in Bangladesh, the prevalence of  stunting increased  with birth  order hence most of the children who were of birth order more than two had greater chances of  stunting and wasting (Rayhan and Hayat., 2006).
Worthy to note is that few studies according to the literature search have been conducted on the subject of child birth order and malnutrition among underfive children.  During the study in Araba and kalmalo districts of Illela, it was found quite easy to get actual information concerning birth order because the respondents  found  it easy to recall after all,they could easily tell by looking at their children.
2.3.4 BIRTH INTERVAL
In another study conducted in Bangladesh, children within the first birth interval were 1.66 times more likely to be stunted and children whose preceding birth interval was less than two years were 1.32 times significantly more likely to be stunted as compared to children of a preceding birth interval 24 months or above. Similar results were observed for underweight children (Nure., Nuruzzaman and Goni, 2011). The  study indicated that preceding birth intervals and  child stunting  were statistically significant (p<0.05). Preceding birth intervals of 18-35 months had a marginally positive significance on stunting whereas the interval of more than 48 months shows a negative relationship on stunting.