Abbreviated Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index and Child Nutritional Status in Hawella District, Sidama Region, Ethiopia; a Community Based Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Background Malnutrition remains to be one of the world’s most serious and least addressed socio-economic and health problems. In Ethiopia, agriculture is of the main occupation interlinked with human nutrition where woman make up a large percentage of the workforce. Objective To assess the relationship between abbreviated women’s empowerment in agriculture index (A-WEAI) and nutritional status of their children in Hawella district of Sidama region, Southern Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Hawella district. A total 338 mothers with their children aged 6–59 months were participated in the study. The data was collected using modified, pre-tested and structured questionnaires adapted from literatures and women’s empowerment in agriculture index module A-WEAI Version. Anthropometric measurement data of children was collected using precise digital scale and stature meter. Data entry was done through Epi Data version 3.1. Woman empowerment was measured based on A-WEAI. Anthros software was used to compute height-for-age and weight-for-height and < − 2 SD was taken as cut-off points for both stunting and wasting. A statistical package for social sciences version 23.0 software was for data analysis. The statistical significance was considered at p value < 0.05. Results The prevalence of stunted and wasted among children were 40.5% (95% CI: 34.9, 45.6) and 12.1% (95% CI: 8.9, 16), respectively. Based on the five domains of empowerment (5DE) indicators, nearly 57% of women were empowered. The age of the mother (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.07–6.25), marital status of mothers (AOR = 6.4, 95% CI: 2.01–2.71), place of birth (AOR = 4.5, 95% CI: 2.12–9.49), and maternal educational status (AOR = 2.8 95% CI: 1.29–6.23) were factors independently associated with wasted children. Whereas, factors such as family size (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.03–5.13), overall women empowerment (AOR = 2.3 95% CI: 1.03–5.13), access to and decision on credit (AOR = 3.7, 95% CI: 1.56–7.47), and control over use of income (AOR = 9.4, 95% CI: 3.92–22.35) were associated with stunting in children. Conclusion this study provides evidence that intervention is needed to prevent child malnutrition through enhancing women empowerment in agriculture.