Ethiop. j. public health nutr. Survival status of children treated for severe acute malnutrition in outpatient therapeutic program by season in Kembata Tembaro Zone, Southern Ethiopia Wondwosen Fikreselam1*, Samson Mideksa2 and Sintayehu Abate Temesgen3 1School of nutrition, food science and technology, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia 2Knowledge Translation Directorate, Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3Scientif and Ethical Review Office, Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract Background: Malnutrition is a deficiency state of both macro and micronutrients (under-nutrition) and their over consumption (over-nutrition) causing measurable adverse effects on human body structure and function, resulting in specific physical and clinical outcomes. Nearly 52 million under five children globally are malnourished, and in Africa it is about 14 million. However, there is little information known about seasonal variations of admission. Objective: To assess seasonal variations of admission of children treated for Severe Acute Malnutrition at Outpatient Therapeutic Program in Kembata Tembaro Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Methods: A retrospective facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from records of outpatient therapeutic program from January 01 to December 30, 2017. Four hundred thirty three children represented by their Outpatient Therapeutic Program card were included from three Woredas selected by simple random sampling technique. From these three Woredas, 18 health posts were selected by simple random sampling. Population Proportion to size allocation was used to assign sample for each selected Woredas. Systematic sampling technique was used to assign child card for each selected health posts in the study area. Data entered, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20.