Utilisation of growth monitoring service by mothers of infants in Mettu town, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundGrowth monitoring (GM) is a preventive activity that serves as the core function in an integrated child health and nutrition programme. In most developing nations, including Ethiopia, however, the use of GM service is insufficient. Hence, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of GM services and associated characteristics among mothers of infants in Mettu town, Southwest Ethiopia.ObjectiveTo assess the utilisation of GM service by mothers of infants in Mettu town, Southwest Ethiopia, 2021.MethodA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 354 randomly selected mothers with children aged 0–23 months old from 25 June to 27 July 2021 in Mettu town. EpiData V.4.6.0 was used to enter data, which were then exported to SPSS V.25 for analysis. Simple binary and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with GM service utilisation.ResultsA total of 354 study participants were included in the study, yielding a response rate of 95.2%. The proportion of GM service utilisation was 25.2% (95% CI: 20.24% to 29.33%). In multivariable regression analysis, age of index child 0–11 months (AOR (adjusted OR)=1.58; 95% CI: 1.052 to 3.713), early postnatal care (PNC) (AOR=1.72; 95% CI: 1.657 to 6.467), middle tertile wealth status (AOR=0.108; 95% CI: 0.047 to 0.319) and lower tertile wealth status (AOR=0.073; 95% CI: 0.013 to 0.874), utilisation of family health cards (AOR=2.09; 95% CI: 1.384 to 5.343) and taking ≤30 min to reach the nearest health facility (AOR=2.23; 95% CI: 2.061 to 7.350) were significantly associated with GM service utilisation.Conclusion and recommendationIn this study, only one-fourth of mothers with children aged 0–23 months old were using GM services. GM service utilisation was found to be significantly associated with child age, early PNC visit, wealth status, utilisation of family health cards and time taking ≤30 min to reach the nearest health facility. Hence, appropriate strategies that promote and encourage GM service utilisation should be designed.

Utilization of growth monitoring and promotion services among children younger than 2 years in West Armachiho district, Northwest Ethiopia

“…The result of this study is lower than the study conducted in different parts of Ethiopia, which reported the utilization of GMP services to be 16.9, 25.2, 32.9, and 38.9% (12)(13)(14)(15). This difference may be due to a huge difference in place of delivery (as the health facility delivery for the last child in Banja district was 96.6%, while it was only 46.1% in our study) (12), which enables the mothers to get exposed to more information about the GMP and its advantages.…”

“…This result is slightly higher than the study conducted in Butajira town, southern Ethiopia, which reported the utilization of GMP services to be 11% ( 22). This may be due to the involvement of urban kebeles together with the relatively low number of (four) rural kebeles in our study compared to the study conducted in Butajira, which included a high number of (nine) rural kebeles with no urban kebeles, which has an effect on their utilization of health services (23,24), which in turn affects their exposure to GMP services (14,17).…”

Utilisation of growth monitoring and promotion services and associated factors among mothers of children younger than 2 years in Gondar Zuria District, northwest Ethiopia: a community-based, cross-sectional study

“…The utilisation of GMP services demonstrated significant associations with factors such as birthplace, PNC follow-up, participation in regular GMP sessions and wealth status. The utilisation of GMP services is consistent with the findings from Mettu Town (25.2%)26 and from rural northern Ghana (28.5%) 27. This finding indicates a higher prevalence compared with a study conducted in Afar Region (15.9%)28 and southern Ethiopia (16.9%) 21.…”