Understanding the Geographical Distribution of Stunting in Tanzania : A Geospatial Analysis of the 2015-16 Demographic and Health Survey
Tanzania is home to the third highest population of stunted children in Sub-Saharan Africa, with about 2.7 million children under the age of five failing to reach their full potential of growth attainment compared with the reference population as p...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/834741546530273286/Understanding-the-Geographical-Distribution-of-Stunting-in-Tanzania-A-Geospatial-Analysis-of-the-2015-16-Demographic-and-Health-Survey http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31091 |
| Summary: | Tanzania is home to the third highest
population of stunted children in Sub-Saharan Africa, with
about 2.7 million children under the age of five failing to
reach their full potential of growth attainment compared
with the reference population as per the World Health
Organization standards. Several studies have shown that
stunted growth during childhood entraps the future of
children in a vicious circle of recurrent diseases, reduced
human development, and lower earnings, thus increasing their
likelihood of being poor when they grow up. To reduce
stunting, the Government of Tanzania and development
partners are introducing a convergence of multisectoral
interventions adapted to local needs. However, the existing
stunting data are representative only at higher
administrative levels, thus making it difficult to implement
these efforts. The paper uses the 2016 geo-referenced
Demographic and Health Survey in conjunction with relevant
spatially gridded covariate data, such as nighttime lights,
water and sanitation access, vegetation index, travel time,
and so on. Geospatial techniques, such as model-based
statistics and Bayesian inference implemented using the INLA
algorithm, along with appropriate model validation exercises
are employed to develop high-resolution maps of stunting in
Tanzania at 1×1-kilometer spatial resolution. The maps show
that areas of consistently high stunting rates tend to be
more common in rural parts of the country, especially
throughout the western and southwestern border areas. There
is high prevalence of low stunting in the urban areas around
Dar es Salaam, Arusha, and Dodoma, as well as in the south
of Lake Victoria. |
|---|