ANALYZING STUNTING AND UNDERWEIGHT IN CHITUNGWIZA URBAN DISTRICT IN ZIMBABWE

Economics

In this paper, ANN models were applied in forecasting malnutrition trends (stunting and underweight) for children aged below 15 and living in Chitungwiza urban district. The employed data covers the period January 2013 to December 2019 and the out-of-sample period ranges over the period January 2020 to December 2021. The residuals and forecast evaluation criteria of the applied models reveal that the models are adequate in predicting malnutrition dynamics in Chitungwiza urban district over the out-of-sample period. The results of the study basically indicate that chronic malnutrition will sharply rise over the out-of-sample period. However, underweight cases have been projected to slightly decrease over the out-of-sample period. Therefore, it is clear that malnutrition still remains a major problem in children under the age of 5 in Chitungwiza urban district. Hence, the study offers a 8-fold policy recommendation for consideration by relevant authorities in Chitungwiza urban district.

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