Abstract
IntroductionFood availability and access are strongly affected by seasonality in Ethiopia. However, there are little data on seasonal variation in Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices and malnutrition among 6-23 months old children in different agro-ecological zones of rural Ethiopia.MethodsSocio-demographic, anthropometry and IYCF indicators were assessed in post- and pre-harvest seasons among children aged 6–23 months of age randomly selected from rural villages of lowland and midland agro-ecological zones.ResultsChild stunting and underweight increased from prevalence of 39.8% and 26.9% in post-harvest to 46.0% and 31.8% in pre-harvest seasons, respectively. The biggest increase in prevalence of stunting and underweight between post- and pre-harvest seasons was noted in the midland zone. Wasting decreased from 11.6% post-harvest to 8.5% pre-harvest, with the biggest decline recorded in the lowland zone. Minimum meal frequency, minimum acceptable diet and poor dietary diversity increased considerably in pre-harvest compared to post-harvest season in the lowland zone. Feeding practices and maternal age were predictors of wasting, while women’s dietary diversity and children age was predictor of child dietary diversity in both seasons.ConclusionThere is seasonal variation in malnutrition and IYCF practices among children 6-23 months of age with more pronounced effect in midland agro-ecological zone. A major contributing factor for child malnutrition may be poor feeding practices. Health information strategies focused on both IYCF practices and dietary diversity of mothers could be a sensible approach to reduce the burden of child malnutrition in rural Ethiopia.
Highlights
Food availability and access are strongly affected by seasonality in Ethiopia
In the midland region it was noted that most mothers participated in weeding of cereals and this may lead to less time available to care for their children, while in the lowland region, Khat production requires less weeding than cereal crops and, Khat production was primarily handled by males
We found that infant dietary diversity score is weakly associated with child stunting in the preharvest season, indicating there is a possible association between stunting and feeding practice unlike another study reported from Ethiopia [9]
Summary
There are little data on seasonal variation in Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices and malnutrition among 6-23 months old children in different agro-ecological zones of rural Ethiopia. A single study conducted among children 6-36 months of age in the eastern part of Ethiopia found that the prevalence of wasting was lower in rainy (pre-harvest season) compared to dry season (7.4 vs 11.2%) [15]. Our recent study reported significant variations in nutritional status of lactating mothers in two agro-ecological zones of rural Ethiopia [16] It is not known if variations in IYCF and child malnutrition follow similar patterns to that of food availability. This study reports on seasonal variation in IYCF and malnutrition among 6-23 months of age children of those lactating mothers in different agroecological zones of rural Ethiopia
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