The status of research on malnutrition among children under 5 years in Southern Africa: a systematic review

Abstract

Malnutrition rates remain alarming with stunting declining too slowly while wasting still impacts the lives of many young children. Globally, 5.6 million children die before their fifth birthday annually, with 80% of these deaths occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.  A total of 29 most relevant articles were included, which followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses for protocols (PRISMA-P). The literature search was conducted in multiple electronic databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and Research Gate. A large proportion of the literature focused on determining factors associated with malnutrition. Similarities were found amongst various articles with findings highlighting household food insecurity as a major threat that leads to inadequate feeding practices and consequently resulting in undernutrition. This review assessed the state of knowledge on malnutrition in Southern Africa. The authors identified knowledge gaps that should be considered for future research. We did not come across any evaluation studies assessing food security interventions in response to malnutrition. Moreover, sanitation in relation to malnutrition is not broadly researched. We recommend future studies to apply a cross-sectional analytic design with mixed methods, combining survey data, geographical data, household and key informant interviews. There is a need to map the prevalence of malnutrition in children under five years and providing more knowledge on vulnerability and contexts that influence malnutrition including socio-economic, environmental and infrastructural conditions. We further recommend the use of GIS databases to generate information on spatio-temporal patterns of malnutrition.