Table 1. Characteristics of included publications in the literature.

Author; year	Geographical Region	Year of Data Collection	Children (No); Age	Sample Strategy	Study Design	Population Characteristics	Quality Assessment Score
Abdalla et al. 2009	El Fau (Rural area) in Sudan	2003	N = 150 6–60 months	Random sampling	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the three target villages	Medium
Abu-Manga et al. 2021	Sudan	2019	N = 145,002 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five from households in the Sudanese community	High
Aitsi-Selmi 2014	Egypt	1992–95	N = 9,201 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	High
		2005–8	N = 13,376 0–5 years
Almasi et al. 2019	Egypt	2014	N = 14898.9 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the Eastern Mediterranean countries	Medium
	Libya	2007	N = 10723 0–5 years
	Morocco	2011	N = 6872.6 0–5 years
	Sudan	2014	N = 11712.3 0–5 years
	Tunisia	2012	N = 2677.3 0–5 yrs.
Barouaca 2012	Morocco	2004	N = 5311 0–5 yrs.	Multistage sampling surveys	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	Medium
		1997	N = 5240 0–5 years
		1992	N = 4502 0–5 years
Dahab et al 2020	Sudan	2014	N = 14,081 0–5 years	Stratified multistage cluster sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five from households in armed conflicts in Darfur in Eastern state, Blue Nile and South Kordofan	High
Elsary 2017	Egypt (Tamiya district in Fayoum)	2014	N = 400 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five who attend the health care facilities	High
El-Taguri et al. 2009	Libya	2003	N = 7232 0–5 years	Multistage sampling designs	Cross sectional study	Children under five in five Arab countries (Libya, Djibouti, Syria, Morocco and Yemen	High
	Morocco	2003	N = 5380 0–5 years
El Taguri et al. 2008	Libya	1995	N = 5348 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five from households across Libya	High
Fagbamigbe et al. 2020	Egypt	2014	N = 13,682 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	High
Figueroa and Kurdi 2019	Egypt	2014	N = 13601 6–59 months	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	Medium
		2008	N = 9103 6–59 months
		2005	12131 6-59m
Ghattas et al. 2020	Egypt	2014	N = 13,857 6–59 months	Stratified cluster sampling	Cross sectional study	Children under five in Middle East and North African (MENA) region	High
	Algeria	2013	N = 13,077 6–59 months
	Sudan	2014	N = 12,538 6–59 months
	Morocco	2003	N = 5309 6–59 months
	Tunisia	2012	N = 2593 6–59 months
Kavle et al. 2015	(Egypt)	2008	N = 6091 6–59 months	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five from households across Egypt	High
		2005	N = 7794 6–59 months
Kerac et al 2019	Egypt	2014	N = 1,210 0–6 months	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children less than six months of age in developing countries	High
Kiarie et al. 2021	Sudan Yambio country	2018	N = 630 6–59 months	Cluster multistage sampling method	Cross Sectional study	Children aged 6–59 months living in Yambio County, Sudan	High
Mberu et al. 2016	Egypt (Slum communities)	2003	N = 5761 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	Medium
Musa et al. 2014	Sudan (Khartoum State)	2014	N = 411 0–5 years	Simple random sampling	Cross sectional study	Children under five in Khartoum state, Sudan	Medium
Nikooyeh et al. 2022	Egypt	2020	N = 163 0–5 years	Online surveys	Cross sectional study	Children under five in Eastern Mediterranean countries	Medium
		2015	N = 258 0–5 years
		2010	N = 409 0–5 years
		2005	N = 713 0–5 years
		2000	N = 1142 0–5 years
	Sudan	2020	N = 29 0–5 years
		2015	N = 99 0–5 years
		2010	N = 266 0–5 years
		2005	N = 80 0–5 years
		2000	N = 28 0–5 years
	Libya	2020	N = 74 0–5 years
		2015	N = 111 0–5 years
		2010	N = 225 0–5 years
		2005	N = 320 0–5 years
		2000	N = 241 0–5 years
	Morocco	2020	N = 286 0–5 years
		2015	N = 347 0–5 years
		2010	N = 640 0–5 years
		2005	N = 652 0–5 years
		2000	N = 679 0–5 years
	Tunisia	2020	N = 507 0–5 years
		2015	N = 960 0–5 years
		2010	N = 1064 0–5 years
		2005	N = 1212 0–5 years
		2000	N = 985 0–5 years
Özaltin et al. 2010	Egypt	2005–2008	N = 33440 0–59 months	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in Egypt and Morocco	High
	Morocco	2003–04	N = 5544 0–59 months
Rico et al. 2010	Egypt	2005	N = 3242 6–59 months	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	High
Seedhom et al. 2014	Egypt (El-Minia)	2014	N = 700 6–24 months	Non-random sampling	Cross sectional study	Children 6–24 months in Minia region, Egypt	Medium
Shaker-Berbari et al 2021	Egypt	2014	N = 5100 6–23 months	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the Middle East	High
	Sudan	2014	N = 4009 6–23 months
Sharaf and Rashad 2016	Egypt	2014	N = 12,997 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	Medium
Sulaiman et al. 2018	North Sudan (Rural area)	2014	N = 1635 0–5 years	Cluster multistage sampling method	Cross Sectional study	Children under five who live in the Four Nile River rural area of Sudan	High
Tzioumis et al. 2016	Egypt	2008	N = 9275 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	High
		2005	N = 12038 0–5 years
		2003	N = 5911 0–5 years
		2000	N = 10078 0–5 years
		1995	N = 10165 0–5 years
		1992	N = 7241 0–5 years
Winskill et al. 2021	Egypt	2014	N = 11,706 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in 39 low to middle-income countries	High
Zotarelli et al. 2007	Egypt	2000	N = 10194 0–5 years	Multi-stage stratified sampling design	Cross sectional study	Children under five in the community	High

High = 7–9; medium = 4–6, and poor = 0–3