Determinants of exclusive breastfeeding practices in Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Despite the demonstrated benefits of breast milk, the prevalence of breastfeeding, in-particular exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), in many developing countries including Ethiopia is lower than the international recommendation of EBF for the first six months of life Objective: To assess the practice of EBF and explore its determinants in Ethiopia and provide policy makers and NGOs with relevant information for future planning and interventions. Methods: Raw data collected from nine regions and two city administrations using stratified cluster sampling method by the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS) 2005 were used to study the practice and determinants of EBF countrywide. Analysis was based on children whose age was less than six months and alive at the time of interview that was extracted from the women's database. Results: The overall rates of exclusive and full breastfeeding were 49.0% and 68.2% respectively. Maternal education, marital status, wealth index and age of the child were closely associated with EBF practices, nonetheless, in the hierarchical analysis; being not married, middle/ richer/ richest wealth index, and child age 0-1and 2-3 month were retained as the predictors of EBF (P<0.05). Conclusion:A range of maternal and child health attributes such as marital status, economical status and child age were found to influence the practice of EBF in Ethiopia. Actions to empower women and promotion of EBF campaign are recommended to achieve the fourth millennium development goal. [Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2009;23(1):12-18]

Exclusive Breast Feeding Status and its Determinant among HIV Positive Women in West Showa Zone Oromia Region Ethiopia

“…This study identified that employment states as significant variable for EBF of women living with HIV/AIDS. Self-employed women practice EBF than that of government employee which had agreement with other finding of the study conducted in Ethiopia [16]. This could be due to the fact that government employee should serve at least eight hours in the office and cannot have the opportunity to stay with their baby and feeds enough duration.…”

Facilitators and Barriers to Exclusive Breastfeeding in Thailand: A Narrative Review

“…In addition, Thai grandmothers trying to feed infants water, rice, and fruit can negatively impact on EBF duration. Similar traditional behaviors have also been reported in the Middle East, Southern Africa, East Africa, China and Brazil [113,123,128,131]. In Zimbabwe, water as well as herbal concoctions, are given to children with the belief that they could improve their health [114].…”

Exclusive Breast Feeding Practice and Associated Factors in Kemba Woreda, Southern Ethiopia, a Community Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…There is a wide range of variation in the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among developing countries, with the rates documented inBrazil (58%), Bangalore (40%), Iran (28%), Lebanon (10.1%), Southern Ethiopia, a Community Based Cross-Sectional Study Nigeria (20%), Bangladesh (34.5%) andJordan (77%) [9]. In Ethiopia context, 52 % of infants were exclusively breastfed for the first six months, while 56.9% were exclusively breastfed for the first four months [14,21,22].…”