Abstract
BackgroundThough infant and young children should be fed according to a minimum acceptable diet to ensure appropriate growth and development, only 7% of Ethiopian 6–23 months age children meet the minimum acceptable dietary standards, which is lower than the national target of 11% set for 2016. Therefore, this study aims to assess the individual and community level factors affecting feeding according to minimum acceptable diet among 6–23 months age children in Ethiopia.MethodsThis study analyzed retrospectively a cross-sectional data on a weighted sample of 2919 children aged 6–23 months nested within 617 clusters after extracting from Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey 2016 via the link www.measuredhs.com. By employing bi-variate multilevel logistic regression model, variables which were significant at the p-value < 0.25 were included in multivariable multilevel logistic regression analysis. Finally, variables with a p-value < 0.05 were considered as significant predictors of minimum acceptable diet.ResultsOnly 6.1% of 6–23 months age children feed minimum acceptable diet in Ethiopia. Children 18–23 months age (AOR = 3.7, 95%CI 1.9, 7.2), father’s with secondary or higher education (AOR = 2.1, 95%CI 1.2, 3.6), Employed mothers (AOR = 1.7, 95%CI 1.2, 2.5), mothers have access to drinking water (AOR = 1.9, 95%CI 1.2, 2.9), mothers with media exposure (AOR = 2.1 95%CI 1.1, 2.7) were positive individual level predictors. Urban mothers (AOR = 4.8, 95%CI 1.7, 13.2)) and agrarian dominant region (AOR = 5.6, 95%CI 2.2, 14.5) were community level factors that significantly associated with a minimum acceptable diet of 6–23 months age children.ConclusionBoth individual and community level factors were significantly associated with a minimum acceptable diet of 6–23 months age children in Ethiopia, suggesting that nutritional interventions designed to improve child health should not only be implemented at the individual level but tailored to community context as well.
Highlights
After 6 months, breast milk is no longer adequate to meet the nutritional needs and increasing demand of nutritional requirements of infants and children[1]
Though infant and young children should be fed according to a minimum acceptable diet to ensure appropriate growth and development, only 7% of Ethiopian 6–23 months age children meet the minimum acceptable dietary standards, which is lower than the national target of 11% set for 2016
Urban mothers (AOR = 4.8, 95%confidence intervals (CI) 1.7, 13.2)) and agrarian dominant region (AOR = 5.6, 95%CI 2.2, 14.5) were community level factors that significantly associated with a minimum acceptable diet of 6–23 months age children
Summary
After 6 months, breast milk is no longer adequate to meet the nutritional needs and increasing demand of nutritional requirements of infants and children[1]. Complementary feeding is the process of transition from exclusive breastfeeding to other foods besides breast milk[2] During this period timely introduction of complementary feeding with a variety of foods should be added to the child’s diet to ensure their nutritional requirement[3]. World Health Organization (WHO) has established guidelines for infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices for 6–23 months age children by considering minimum acceptable diet (MAD) as one of the eight core indicators of complementary feeding [4]. It is the combination of minimum dietary diversity and minimum meal frequency. This study aims to assess the individual and community level factors affecting feeding according to minimum acceptable diet among 6–23 months age children in Ethiopia
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