The purpose of this study was to identify and determine the risk factors for malnutrition
among children under the age of 5 years in Kweneng West District of Botswana. A case
control study was conducted. The cases consisted of 37 underweight children under the
age of 5 (n=37), and the controls consisted of 76 children less than 5 years of age (n=76)
recruited concurrently among the under-five children attending Letlhakeng Child Welfare
Clinic on a monthly basis. The controls were of good nutritional status. Data collection was
done using a combination of a review of records (child welfare clinic registers, and child
welfare clinic cards) and structured questionnaires. Following placement of the data in
regression models, the factors that were found to be significantly associated with child
malnutrition were small number of daily meals taken by the child (Adjusted OR=19.04, 95%
CI 3.24-112.13), lack of knowledge of methods of prevention of child malnutrition by the
parent (Adjusted OR=4.71, 95% CI 1.41-15.82), parent’s unemployment (Adjusted
OR=50.3, 95% CI 4.86-52.1), low birth weight (Adjusted OR=12.34, 95% CI 2.76-55.02),
inadequate Vitamin A supplementation (Adjusted OR=13.27, 95% CI 1.94-90.46), child
illness (OR=20.95, 95% CI 7.55-58.10), and child raised by a guardian (Adjusted OR=5.67,
95% CI 1.30-24.73). The findings from this study suggest that Socio-economic factors such
as unemployment, a lack of knowledge about recommended infant and child feeding
practices, the child raised by a guardian, and health-related factors such as low birth
weight, inadequate Vitamin A supplementation, and child illness are predictors of
malnutrition in under five. Therefore, increasing household food security and reinforcing
educational interventions could contribute to a reduction in the prevalence of child
malnutrition in the district.