Table 1.
Child and maternal characteristics, Malawi 2015–2016
| Variables | Percentage (%)a |
|---|---|
| Child characteristics | |
| Nutritional status | |
| Stunted (n = 2222) | 30.8 |
| Wasted (n = 2221) | 3.7 |
| Underweight (n = 2224) | 9.9 |
| Anemic (n = 1670) | 80.0 |
| Severe (Hb < 7.0 g/dL) | 3.7 |
| Moderate (Hb 7.0–9.9 g/dL) | 49.5 |
| Mild (Hb 10.0–11.0 g/dL) | 26.8 |
| Morbidity (n = 2281) | |
| Diarrhea | 31.1 |
| Fever | 34.5 |
| Cough | 27.3 |
| Maternal characteristics | |
| Maternal education (n = 2281) | |
| No education | 11.2 |
| Some primary | 65.9 |
| Secondary or higher | 22.9 |
| Maternal literacy (n = 2281) | |
| Cannot read | 30.8 |
| Able to read parts of sentence | 9.8 |
| Able to read whole sentence | 59.4 |
| Maternal occupation (n = 2281) | |
| Not working outside the home | 36.9 |
| Working outside the home | 63.1 |
| Marital status (n = 2281) | |
| Unmarried | 21.3 |
| Married | 78.7 |
| Ethnicity (n = 2222) | |
| Chewa | 34.6 |
| Tumbuka | 8.4 |
| Lomwe | 18.0 |
| Yao | 15.8 |
| Ngoni | 11.7 |
| Other | 11.5 |
| Religion (n = 2279) | |
| Christian | 83.8 |
| Muslim | 15.6 |
| Other | 0.6 |
| Exposure to media (n = 2222) | |
| Television | |
| Not at all | 82.9 |
| Rarely (Less than once a week) | 9.2 |
| At least once a week | 7.9 |
| Maternal characteristics (continued) (n = 2281) | |
| Radio | |
| Not at all | 53.2 |
| Rarely (Less than once a week) | 19.3 |
| At least once a week | 27.5 |
| Newspaper | |
| Not at all | 83.9 |
| Rarely (Less than once a week) | 10.4 |
| At least once a week | 5.7 |
| Wealth index | |
| Poorest | 25.0 |
| Poorer | 22.7 |
| Middle | 19.9 |
| Richer | 15.8 |
| Richest | 16.6 |
| Area of residence | |
| Urban | 14.8 |
| Rural | 85.2 |
| Region of residence | |
| Northern | 11.2 |
| Central | 42.0 |
| Southern | 46.8 |
aWeighted frequencies