Dietary Diversity and Associated Factors among Children Aged 6-59 Months in Ethiopia: Analysis of Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey 2016 (EDHS 2016)

Abstract

Background. Dietary diversity is one of the key elements of diet quality. Even though different measures were taken to increase dietary diversity feeding practice in Ethiopia, the problem still remains high. Therefore, this study was done to identify determinants of inadequate minimum dietary practice among children aged 6-59 months in Ethiopia. Method. Secondary analysis of the data from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey was done on a weighted sample of 5161 children aged 6-59 months. Data analysis was done using STATA v.14. Variables with P value < 0.05 in the bivariable analysis were candidates for the multivariable analysis to identify independent determinants of dietary diversity. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated at 95% confidence interval (CI). Results. A total of 5161 children aged 6 to 59 months were enrolled in the study. Only 8.5% of the children had the recommended minimum dietary diversity. Mother’s education (adjusted odds ratio AOR=2.51 (1.65, 3.83)), mothers currently working (adjusted odds ratio AOR=1.83 (1.47, 2.29)), mother’s wealth index (adjusted odds ratio AOR=4.75 (3.31, 6.81)), age of a child (adjusted odds ratio AOR=1.72 (1.24, 2.39)), and number of under-five children (adjusted odds ratio AOR=1.49 (1.12, 2.00)) were significantly associated with the minimum dietary diversity. Conclusion. The minimum dietary diversity was not achieved by most children 6-59 months of age in Ethiopia. Ensuring large-scale interventions that focus on the identified factors should be considered by concerned bodies to improve the dietary diversity practice.

Exploring Spatial Variations and Determinants of Dietary Diversity Among Children in Ethiopia: Spatial and Multilevel Analysis Using EDHS (2011–2016)

“…Other research also suggested that children’s dietary diversity has been affected by households’ economic status. 15 , 19 , 37 It could be a proxy for wealth because it reflects increased access to foods purchased outside the household. 38 We also found that child dietary diversity is significantly associated with maternal education.…”

“…16 In Ethiopia, there is an improvement in the proportion of children who meet the MDD, 6.3% in 2005 to 13.5% in 2016; 17 however, the levels remain unacceptably low. Previous research has revealed factors connected to children's DD such as mother's age, maternal educational level, 12,18 marital status, maternal occupation, 19 ANC visit, residence, region, child's gender, birthing sequence, childbirth interval, child's age, 18 number of under-5 children, 19 currently breastfeeding, paternal educational status, household wealth status, 12,20 family size, desire for pregnancy, media exposure, antenatal and postnatal care. 17,21 Many public health measures have been carried out across Ethiopia to improve the culture of DD and the nutritional status of children.…”

Dietary Diversity and Undernutrition in Children Aged 6–23 Months in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…MDD, an indicator that measures dietary diversity was the key explanatory variable. MDDcan be defined as the proportion of children aged 6-23 months who receive four or more out of seven food groups [4,12,13,15,30]. The children were expected to consume at least four of the seven food groups in addition to breastmilk.…”

“…The children who consumed at least four (≥4) of the food groups were said to have an adequate MDD and this was coded as "1" while the remaining children who consumed lower than four food groups were coded as "0 = inadequate". This classification and categorization were informed by literature that studied either dietary diversity alone or its association with undernutrition [4,12,13,30].…”

“…Other explanatory variables were included as covariates. These variables were selected on the basis of their significant relationship with childhood undernutrition from literature [30][31][32][33][34] as well as their availability in the DHS dataset. The variables were grouped into individual-level, household-level, and contextual-level variables.…”