Anthropometric Assessment of Adolescent Nutritional Status in Two Drought-Prone Areas of Ethiopia

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among adolescents in two food insecure zones in Ethiopia. Methods: Data were collected through a survey of 350 rural households from five districts using a multistage sampling design. Demographic, socioeconomic, and anthropometric measurements were collected from 1437 individuals. The nutritional status of a subset of this sample, adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, was analyzed using the World Health Organization (WHO) AnthroPlus software. Height-for-age Z-score (HAZ), and BMI-for-age Z-score (BAZ) were calculated to determine nutritional status. Results: The prevalence of stunting (HAZ less than -2 standard deviations (SDs)) and thinness (BAZ