Abstract
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Abstract; Background: Child malnutrition in rural hard to reach areas of Uganda is higher than that in urban areas and it leads to increased risk of death. It is assumed that the condition is worse in Islands, however, limited research has been conducted on the prevalence and determinants of stunting and underweight among children in the Islands of Uganda. This study assessed the prevalence and determinants of stunting and underweight among children aged 6 to 59 months in Bussi Islands of Wakiso District in Uganda.Methods: A cross-sectional survey using quantitative methods was conducted in the Islands of Wakiso District. 409 households and 409 caretaker-child pairs of children aged 6 to 59 months were got using simple random sampling. Modified poisson regression generated Unadjusted and Adjusted Prevalence Ratios with 95% confidence intervals.Results: Prevalence of stunting and underweight among children was 29.8% and 16.1% respectively. Determinants of stunting were child age of 12 to 23 months and 24 to 35 months (APR: 2.28; 95% CI: 1.29, 4.03 and APR: 1.97; 95% CI: 1.09, 3.56 respectively); household food insecurity (APR: 1.67; 95% CI: 1.15, 2.43); utilisation of more than 80 litres of water in a day by a household (APR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.24, 0.95); suffering from diarrhoea (APR: 1.79; 95% CI: 1.28, 2.50); receiving of deworming tablets every six months by children (APR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.81) and not suffering from measles (APR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.92). Determinants of underweight were child age of 24 to 35 months (APR: 2.30; 95% CI: 1.13, 5.33), suffering from diarrhoea (APR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.30, 3.27) and having more than nine household members (APR: 3.18; 95% CI: 1.10, 10.6).Conclusions: Child stunting and underweight are public health problems in Bussi Islands of Wakiso District. Therefore, nutrition interventions in the Islands should focus on the determinants that were identified by this study.