BackgroundInappropriate feeding practice increases risk of under nutrition, illness, and mortality amongst children less than 2 years of age. The objective of this study is to assess minimum dietary diversity, meal frequency and its associated factors among infant and young children aged 6–23 months in Dangila Town, Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA community based cross sectional study was conducted. Simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Interviewer administered questionnaire were used. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses was employed to identify factors associated with minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency.ResultsA total of 920 children 6–23 months were included. Proportion of children who met the minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency was 12.6 and 50.4 %, respectively. Mothers education [AOR =2.52], age of a child [AOR = 2.05], birth order of index child [AOR = 2.08], living in urban area [AOR = 2.09], having home gardening [AOR = 2.03], and media exposure [AOR = 2.74] were positively associated with dietary diversity. Moreover, age of the child [AOR = 3.03], birth order of index child [AOR = 1.58], mothers involvement in decision making [AOR = 1.51], media exposure [AOR = 2.62], and having postnatal visit [AOR = 2.30] were positively associated with meal frequency.ConclusionThe proportion of children who received minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency was low. Being at younger age, first birth order, and lack of media exposure affect both dietary diversity and meal frequency. Increasing mother’s education, home gardening, mass media promotion and empowering women in decision making are highly recommended to increase dietary diversity and meal frequency.

Background The risk of death from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth for women’s lifetime is higher in developing countries. Improving maternal and child health through a well-organized institutional delivery service is central to achieving reduced maternal and child mortality. Despite the efforts that have been made to improve maternal health outcomes in Ethiopia, institutional delivery is still unacceptably low. Objective This study was conducted to assess institutional delivery service utilization and associated factors in the study area. Methods A Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to employ a total of 546 women. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and entered into EpiData version 3.1 and then exported to SPSS version 23.0. for analysis. Logistic regression models were used to determine factors associated with the outcome variable. Adjusted Odds ratios with 95% CI were computed to measure the strength of association and statistical significance was declared at p-value <0.05. Results The Prevalence of institutional delivery in the study area was 38% (34%-42%). Factors significantly associated with institutional delivery were ANC visit 1.80 (1.12–2.91), knowledge of danger sign during pregnancy 3.60 (2.25–5.76), urban residency 2.09 (1.15–3.81), Parity 0.49 (0.25–0.95) accessibility of health facility 4.60 (2.01–10.89), husbands educational level: primary 2.50 (1.27–4.91), secondary and above 2.36 (1.24–4.48), mothers occupation: governmental employee 2.05 (1.00–4.18), and Private employee 2.42 (1.09–5.35). Conclusions The prevalence of institutional delivery in the District was low. Antenatal visits, residency, knowledge of pregnancy danger signs, parity, and accessibility of health facilities, maternal occupation, and husband education were factors significantly associated with institutional delivery.

Background Despite the universal iodization of salt in Ethiopia, iodine deficiency disorder remains a major public health problem and continued to affect a large segment of the population. It is thus essential to assess factors contributing to the unacceptably high endemic goiter rate in the country and avail evidence for further additional interventions. In line with this, we examined the association of dietary pattern and iodine deficiency among school-age children in Ethiopia. Method We conducted a school-based cross-sectional study among 767 children aged 6 to 12 in southwest Ethiopia. We collected socio-demographic and other important health related information using a pre-tested structured questionnaire through the interview. Dietary pattern of children was measured using modified Hellen Keller’s food frequency questionnaire. We measured iodine deficiency using urinary iodine concentration level and total goiter rate, according to the World Health Organization threshold criteria. We used a multivariate linear regression model to identify dietary and sociodemographic factors that affect urinary iodine level among children. Result Out of the 767 children included in the study, 12% and 4% of children have grade 1 and grade 2 goiter respectively, making the total goiter rate 16%. While the prevalence of iodine deficiency based on urinary iodine concentration is 58.8% of which 13.7% had severe, 18.6% had moderate and 26.5% had mild form. The proportion of children who consumed godere/taro root/, banana, corn, Abyssinian cabbage, and potato, respectively at daily basis 57.8%, 53.1%, 37.9%, and 31.2%, respectively. Age (β = -0.7, 95%CI = -1.1, -0.4), sex (β = -22.3, 95%CI = -33.8, -10.8), consumption of taro root (β = -27.4, 95%CI = -22.9, -31.8), cabbage (β = -11.7, 95%CI = -5.7, -17.6), Abyssinian cabbage (β = 12.4, 95%CI = 6.7, 18.2), and banana (β = 5.6, 95%CI = 0.01, 11.2) significantly associated with urinary iodine level. Conclusion Iodine deficiency remains an important public health problem in southwest Ethiopia. Over-consumption of goitrogenic foods and under-consumption of iodine-rich foods were prevalent and associated with lower urinary iodine level. Therefore, dietary counseling apart from universal salt iodization is recommended.

Background: The risk of death from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth for women’s lifetime is higher in developing countries. Improving maternal and child health through a well-organized institutional delivery service is central to achieve reduced maternal and child mortality. Despite the efforts that have been made to improve maternal health outcomes in Ethiopia, institutional delivery is still unacceptably low. This study was aimed to assess institutional delivery service utilization and associated factors in the study area. Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to employ a total of 546 women. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to determine factors associated with the outcome variable. Adjusted Odds ratios with 95% CI were computed to measure the strength of association and statistical significance was declared at p-value <0.05.Results: The Prevalence of institutional delivery in the study area was 38% (34%-42%). Factors significantly associated with institutional delivery were ANC visit 1.80(1.12-2.91), knowledge on danger sign 3.60(2.25-5.76), urban residency 2.09(1.15-3.81), Parity 0.49(0.25-0.95) accessibility of health facility 4.60(2.01-10.89), husbands educational level: primary 2.50(1.27-4.91), secondary and above 2.36(1.24-4.48), mothers occupation: governmental employee 2.05(1.00-4.18), and Private employee 2.42 (1.09-5.35). Conclusions: The prevalence of institutional delivery in the District was low. Antenatal visits, residency, knowledge on pregnancy danger signs, parity, accessibility of health facilities, maternal occupation, and husband education were significantly associated with institutional delivery. Strengthen the community-based awareness creation program regarding the danger signs of pregnancy and benefits of institutional delivery through the health developmental army, health extension workers, and local health care service providers; empowering women to get a job access, advocating education in the community, and improving antenatal care utilization would be among important measures to improve institutional delivery utilization.