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Spatial Machine Learning for Exploring the Variability in Low Height-For-Age From Socioeconomic, Agroecological, and Climate Features in the Northern Province of Rwanda

Nduwayezu, Gilbert LU orcid ; Kagoyire, Clarisse LU ; Zhao, Pengxiang LU ; Eklund, Lina LU ; Pilesjö, Petter LU ; Bizimana, Jean Pierre LU and Mansourian, Ali LU (2024) In GeoHealth 8(9). p.001027-2024
Abstract

Childhood stunting is a serious public health concern in Rwanda. Although stunting causes have been documented, we still lack a more in-depth understanding of their local factors at a more detailed geographic level. We cross-sectionally examined 615 height-for-age prevalence observations in the Northern Province of Rwanda, linked with their related covariates, to explore the spatial heterogeneity in the low height-for-age prevalence by fitting linear and non-linear spatial regression models and explainable machine learning. Specifically, complemented with generalized additive models, we fitted the ordinary least squares (OLS), a standard geographically weighted regression (GWR), and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR)... (More)

Childhood stunting is a serious public health concern in Rwanda. Although stunting causes have been documented, we still lack a more in-depth understanding of their local factors at a more detailed geographic level. We cross-sectionally examined 615 height-for-age prevalence observations in the Northern Province of Rwanda, linked with their related covariates, to explore the spatial heterogeneity in the low height-for-age prevalence by fitting linear and non-linear spatial regression models and explainable machine learning. Specifically, complemented with generalized additive models, we fitted the ordinary least squares (OLS), a standard geographically weighted regression (GWR), and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) models to characterize the imbalanced distribution of stunting risk factors and uncover the nonlinear effect of significant predictors, explaining the height-for-age variations. The results reveal that 27% of the children measured were stunted, and that likelihood was found to be higher in the districts of Musanze, Gakenke, and Gicumbi. The local MGWR model outperformed the ordinary GWR and OLS, with coefficients of determination of 0.89, 0.84, and 0.25, respectively. At specific ranges, the study shows that height-for-age decreases with an increase in the number of days a child was left alone, elevation, and rainfall. In contrast, land surface temperature is positively associated with height-for-age. However, variables like the normalized difference vegetation index, slope, soil fertility, and urbanicity exhibited bell-shaped and U-shaped non-linear associations with the height-for-age prevalence. Identifying areas with the highest rates of stunting will help determine the most effective measures for reducing the burden of undernutrition.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI), Spatial Machine Learning, Machine Learning (ML), Health, Undernutrition
in
GeoHealth
volume
8
issue
9
pages
001027 - 2024
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:39234601
ISSN
2471-1403
DOI
10.1029/2024GH001027
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
© 2024 The Author(s). GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.
id
201d6be7-dd85-43ae-b93b-cd2df86d1585
date added to LUP
2024-09-09 12:51:14
date last changed
2024-09-11 12:41:42
@article{201d6be7-dd85-43ae-b93b-cd2df86d1585,
  abstract     = {{<p>Childhood stunting is a serious public health concern in Rwanda. Although stunting causes have been documented, we still lack a more in-depth understanding of their local factors at a more detailed geographic level. We cross-sectionally examined 615 height-for-age prevalence observations in the Northern Province of Rwanda, linked with their related covariates, to explore the spatial heterogeneity in the low height-for-age prevalence by fitting linear and non-linear spatial regression models and explainable machine learning. Specifically, complemented with generalized additive models, we fitted the ordinary least squares (OLS), a standard geographically weighted regression (GWR), and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) models to characterize the imbalanced distribution of stunting risk factors and uncover the nonlinear effect of significant predictors, explaining the height-for-age variations. The results reveal that 27% of the children measured were stunted, and that likelihood was found to be higher in the districts of Musanze, Gakenke, and Gicumbi. The local MGWR model outperformed the ordinary GWR and OLS, with coefficients of determination of 0.89, 0.84, and 0.25, respectively. At specific ranges, the study shows that height-for-age decreases with an increase in the number of days a child was left alone, elevation, and rainfall. In contrast, land surface temperature is positively associated with height-for-age. However, variables like the normalized difference vegetation index, slope, soil fertility, and urbanicity exhibited bell-shaped and U-shaped non-linear associations with the height-for-age prevalence. Identifying areas with the highest rates of stunting will help determine the most effective measures for reducing the burden of undernutrition.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nduwayezu, Gilbert and Kagoyire, Clarisse and Zhao, Pengxiang and Eklund, Lina and Pilesjö, Petter and Bizimana, Jean Pierre and Mansourian, Ali}},
  issn         = {{2471-1403}},
  keywords     = {{Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI); Spatial Machine Learning; Machine Learning (ML); Health; Undernutrition}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{001027--2024}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{GeoHealth}},
  title        = {{Spatial Machine Learning for Exploring the Variability in Low Height-For-Age From Socioeconomic, Agroecological, and Climate Features in the Northern Province of Rwanda}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024GH001027}},
  doi          = {{10.1029/2024GH001027}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}