Mohammed Muze Edris, Niguse Tadele Atnafu and Tafesse Lamaro Abota
Background: Even with appropriate breastfeeding, mortality rates and levels of stunting and anemia will not be decreased unless mothers or caregivers provide appropriate complementary foods to their infants starting at six months of age. Ethiopia is a large country with diverse cultures reflected by different food habits and traditional practices. Understanding the immediate and underlying causes of low dietary diversity score in a given context is critical to delivering appropriate, effective and sustainable solutions. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify determinants of dietary diversity score among children age between 6-23 months.
Method: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Benchimaji zone. Data were collected by using pre-tested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 422 study participants. Data were entered into a computer using Epidata 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Logistic regression was used to identify determinants of minimum dietary diversity score.
Result: In this study, 38% of children attain the minimum dietary diversity score ( ≥ 4 items). Mother’s education, nutritional knowledge, Residency, number of children and ANC follow up were significant determinants of children dietary diversity score.
Conclusion: Less than half of children aged between 6-23 months received minimum dietary. Mother’s education, nutritional knowledge, Residency, number of children and ANC follow up were determinants of minimum dietary diversity score of children age between 6 to 23 months. Health intervention that focuses on a cognitive dimension of dietary diversity practice is essential to promote dietary diversity practices of mothers.
Keywords: Dietary diversity; Minimum Dietary diversity; Determinants; Complementary feeding
List of abbreviations: EDHS: Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey; HSDP: Health Sector Development Plan; DDV: Dietary Diversity; MDDV: Minimum Dietary Diversity; IYCF: Infant and Young Child Feeding; WHO: World Health Organization; SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Science
