Dietary Diversity and Associated Factors Among Infants and Young Children in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Getu Gamo Sagaro

doi:10.11648/j.sjcm.20170604.12

Abstract

Background: Increasing the variety of foods and food groups in the diet ensures that there is adequate intake of essential nutrients. Lack of dietary diversity especially for children 6-23 months is specifically critical because they require energy and nutrient-dense foods for both physical and mental growth and development. Encouraging children aged 6–23 months for appropriate complementary feeding practices reduces the incidence of stunting and leads to better health and growth outcome. A community based cross sectional study was conducted from May-June 2016, among children aged 6-23 months residing in rural districts of Wolaita Zone. Multi-stage sampling technique was applied to select 944 child-mother/caregiver paired study population. Data was collected through a pre-tested and structured interviewer administered questionnaire consisting of demographic characteristics variables, household wealth indicators, and dietary assessment tool and entered using Epi-data manager and client entry version 1.4.4.0 and exported to SPSS Version 20 for analysis. Variables having p < 0.25 at bivariate analysis were fitted to multivariate analysis. Odds ratio, P-value and 95% CI were computed to show the association of variables. The proportion of children who consumed minimum acceptable dietary diversity was 43.2% (95% CI: 40.0 – 46.6). The Diary and dairy products, meat, Vitamin A rich fruits and vegetables were less commonly consumed food groups. Older children (AOR = 2.49, 95% CI: 1.71, 3.64), maternal education of primary and secondary and above (AOR = 3.32, 95% CI: 2.01, 5.22) and (AOR = 4.78, 95% CI: 2.55, 8.95) were independent predictors of dietary diversity. Conclusion: Even though feeding practice of infants and young children is encouraging, plenty of children are still suffering from consuming inadequate dietary diversity. Hence, due attention has to be given to improve feeding practice of older children. Furthermore, improving parental education and economy result in proper child feeding practice.

Highlights

Dietary diversity is the number of foods consumed across and within food groups over a reference period, usually 24 hours, 3 days or 7 days
About 43.2% of children consumed minimum acceptable number of food groups. This finding is high when compared with the result obtained from national prevalence of Ethiopia and the study conducted in North Ethiopia, which was 10.8% and 17.8%, respectively [25, 26]; but the present study finding is comparable with a study conducted in Bangladesh, in which 41.9% of study participants consumed at least four food groups [27]
As the child is growing up, his/her feeding practice is relatively compromised. i.e. children aged 18 – 23 months were 2.49 times more likely to practice inadequate dietary diversity compared to children aged 6 – 11 months (AOR = 2.49, 95% CI: 1.71, 3.64)

Summary

Introduction

Dietary diversity is the number of foods consumed across and within food groups over a reference period, usually 24 hours, 3 days or 7 days. Different evidence showed that in developed countries, dietary diversity is strongly associated with nutrient adequacy [1, 2]. Lack of dietary diversity especially for children 6-23 months is critical because they require energy and nutrient-dense foods for both physical and mental growth and development. Encouraging children aged 6–23 months for appropriate complementary feeding practices reduces the incidence of stunting and leads to better health and growth outcome. Conclusion: Even though feeding practice of infants and young children is encouraging, plenty of children are still suffering from consuming inadequate dietary diversity. Improving parental education and economy result in proper child feeding practice

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion