Abstract:
The study assessed the effect of household characteristics on under-five child health in Tanzania,
using Tanzania Demograhic Health Survey (TDHS) 2015-16 data. Eight sociodemographic
household characteristics were analyzed to determine their influence on the under-five child's
normal height for age and under-five child survival. To examine the effect of sociodemographic
household characteristics on an under-five child’s normal height for age and under-five child
survival, binary logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard regression were used to determine
the odds ratio of a child being stunted or not and the hazard of a child to die respectively.The chisquare test was used to determine the independent variables associated with the dependent variable
under five child’s stunting. Among all variables household wealth index, household size, birth
spacing, marital status and type of place of residence had an association with under-five child
stunting. Link test for model specification and Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test were used
to test the binary logistic model. Whereas, a log-rank test of equality of survivor functions was
used to determine the independent variables with significant differences among independenThe study assessed the effect of household characteristics on under-five child health in Tanzania,
using Tanzania Demograhic Health Survey (TDHS) 2015-16 data. Eight sociodemographic
household characteristics were analyzed to determine their influence on the under-five child's
normal height for age and under-five child survival. To examine the effect of sociodemographic
household characteristics on an under-five child’s normal height for age and under-five child
survival, binary logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard regression were used to determine
the odds ratio of a child being stunted or not and the hazard of a child to die respectively.The chisquare test was used to determine the independent variables associated with the dependent variable
under five child’s stunting. Among all variables household wealth index, household size, birth
spacing, marital status and type of place of residence had an association with under-five child
stunting. Link test for model specification and Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test were used
to test the binary logistic model. Whereas, a log-rank test of equality of survivor functions was
used to determine the independent variables with significant differences among independent
groups. Thereafter, the univariate Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to determine
the individual effect of the independent variable on the outcome variable. Findings revealed that
wealth index, household size, birth spacing, marital status and sex of the head of household were
significantly associated with under-five child stunting in Tanzania. Furthermore, children from
households with older mothers, long preceding interval between births, married mothers, more than four household members and those households headed by a male have the advantage of a
higher chance of a child to survive to age five (less chance of under-five mortality). Therefore,
education and advocacy on marriages, the proper age for women to start conceiving and feeding
practices should be provided to ensure children’s normal height for age and their survival.