In Sub-Saharan Africa, being overweight in childhood is rapidly rising while stunting is still remaining at unacceptable levels. A key contributor to this double burden of malnutrition is dietary changes associated with nutrition transition. Although the importance of socio-economic drivers is known, there is limited knowledge about their stratification and relative importance to diet and to different forms of malnutrition. The aim of this study was to assess diet diversity and malnutrition in preschoolers and evaluate the relative importance of socioeconomic resources. Households with children under five (5467) were enrolled using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Standardized tools and procedures were used to collect data on diet, anthropometry and socio-economic factors. Multivariable analysis with cluster adjustment was performed. The prevalence of stunting was 19.6% (18.5-20.6), wasting 3.2% (2.8-3.7), and overweight/obesity 11.4% (10.6-12.2). Stunting, overweight, wasting and limited diet diversity was present in all social strata. Low maternal education was associated with an increased risk of stunting (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.8; 1.4-2.2), limited diet diversity (AOR: 0.33; 0.26-0.42) and reduced odds of being overweight (AOR: 0.61; 0.44-0.84). Preschoolers in Addis Ababa have limited quality diets and suffer from both under-and over-nutrition. Maternal education was an important explanatory factor for stunting and being overweight. Interventions that promote diet quality for the undernourished whilst also addressing the burgeoning problem of being overweight are needed. software, S.A.; validation, H.Y.B., Y.B. and S.A.; formal analysis, H.Y.B., S.A.; investigation, H.Y.B., Y.B.; resources, H.Y.B., M.J., Y.B., B.A., E.-C.E.; data curation, E.-C.E., S.A.; writing-original draft preparation, H.Y.B.; writing-review and editingsupervision, H.Y.B.; project administration, H.Y.B., Y.B., E.-C.E.; funding acquisition, H.Y.B., M.J., Y.B., B.A., E.-C.E. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
PurposeThis study investigates the relationship between adolescent girls' agency and social norms regarding early marriage, girls' education, and nutrition in West Hararghe, Ethiopia.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study involving adolescent girls aged between 13 and 17 years in 2016. A two-stage cluster sampling procedure was followed to identify eligible respondents at the household level. A total of 114 clusters in four districts and 30 households from each cluster were randomly selected. Data were collected using a structured and pretested questionnaire. The agency composite score was measured based on 21 previously validated items. Descriptive and injunctive norm composite scores regarding education, marriage, and nutrition were constructed based on context-relevant items. The weighted mean and standard errors were calculated for the agency and social norms composite scores. The relationship between girls' agency and descriptive and injunctive norms were examined using a multivariable linear regression model that accounted for a complex sample survey design.ResultsA total of 3,186 adolescent girls participated in this study. The multivariable linear regression analysis revealed that adolescent girls' agency score significantly and favorably associated with education (β = .19, p < .001), marriage (β = .13, p < .01), and nutrition (β = .20, p < .01) descriptive norms after adjusting for individual and household characteristics. Similarly, adolescent girls' agency was significantly and favorably associated with marriage (β = .21, p < .001) injunctive norms; however, positive injunctive norms around education (β = .09, p > .05) and nutrition (β = .12, p > .05) did not have a statistically significant association with girls' agency. The domains of agency scale related to the belief in women's health rights related to contraception use and the belief in women's right to refuse sex showed poor prosocial views.ConclusionsFavorable descriptive and injunctive norms around marriage were significantly associated with greater adolescent girls' agency, which indicates the need to incorporate interventions that address social norms in efforts aimed to enhance adolescent girls' sexual and reproductive health status. Furthermore, attention should be given to monitor which domain of agency is improved by the interventions.
Objective: In Ethiopia, women's dietary diversity is low, primarily due to poor food availability and access, both at home and market level. The present study aimed to describe market access using a new definition called market food diversity (MFD) and estimate the impact of MFD, crop and livestock diversity on dietary diversity among women enrolled in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) trial. Design: Baseline cross-sectional data collected from November 2016 to January 2017 were used for the analysis. Availability of foods in markets was assessed at the village level and categorized into nine food groups similar to the dietary diversity index for women. Bivariate and multivariate mixed-effects regression analyses were conducted, adjusted for clustering at the village level. Setting: Chicken-producing farmers in rural Ethiopia. Participants: Women (n 2117) aged 15-49 years. Results: Overall, less than 6 % of women met the minimum dietary diversity (≥5 food groups) and the most commonly consumed food groups were staples and legumes. Median MFD was 4 food groups (interquartile range: 2-8). Multivariate models indicated that women's dietary diversity differed by livestock diversity, food crop diversity and agroecology, with significant interaction effects between agroecology and MFD. Conclusions: Women's dietary diversity is poor in Ethiopia. Local markets are variable in food availability across seasons and agroecological zones. The MFD indicator captures this variability, and women who have access to higher MFD in the highland agroecological zone have better dietary diversity. Thus, MFD has the potential to mitigate the effects of environment on women's dietary diversity.
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