Magnitude and determinants of animal source food consumption among children aged 6-23 months in Ethiopia: secondary analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey.

Undernutrition puts children in a physical and cognitive disadvantage. Animal source foods (ASFs) are important components of nutritious diets and play a significant role in increasing dietary diversity and minimizing the risk of undernutrition among children. Ethiopia still suffers from child undernutrition and there's no adequate information regarding consumption of ASFs. The objective of this study was to determine the magnitude and determinanats of ASF consumption among children 6-23 months of age. A total weighted sample of 2861 children drawn from the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey was analyzed using "SVY" command of STATA 14.0. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the independent determinants of ASF consumption. The strength of the association was measured by odds ratio and 95% confidence interval and p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Nearly half (46.5%) of the children reported consuming any type of ASF. Religion, child age, number of household assets, number of livestock owned by a household, and ownership of land usable for agriculture were significant determinants of the outcome variable. The odds of ASF consumption were six times, twice, and 70% lower in orthodox children compared to other (catholic, traditional, or others), muslim, and protestant children, respectively. Household ownership of assets and livestock led to an increase in consumption of ASF by 19 and 2%, respectively. Children aged 18-23 months were more likely to consume ASF as compared to the younger age group (6-8 months old children). In the contrary, children from households that own land usable for agriculture were 33% less likely to consume ASFs as compared to those from households that do not own. In Ethiopia, only nearly half of children aged 6-23 months consume any type of ASF. The findings of this study imply that ASF consumption can be increased through integrated actions that involve community and religious leaders and programs focused on empowering households' capability of owning other socioeconomic entities including assets and livestock. This study also may contribute to the growing body of research works on the importance of ASF provision in preventing child undernutrition.

Gebretsadik GG ，Adhanu AK ，Mulugeta A 《BMC PUBLIC HEALTH》

Maternal behavioural determinants and livestock ownership are associated with animal source food consumption among young children during fasting in rural Ethiopia.

Religious fasting often involves abstention from animal source foods (ASFs). Although children are exempt, their diets are influenced by the widespread fasting practices. This study investigated the factors influencing ASF consumption among young children during the Lent fasting period in western Amhara, Ethiopia. We used baseline survey data from households with children 6-23 months of age (n = 2,646). We conducted regression analysis to examine the maternal and household factors associated with ASF consumption and path analysis to examine the direct and indirect effects of maternal knowledge, beliefs, social norms, and livestock ownership on ASF consumption. Only 24% of children consumed any ASF in the previous day-18% dairy products, 5% eggs, and 2% flesh foods. Mothers with high knowledge, beliefs, and social norms about feeding children ASFs during fasting had higher odds (odds ratio: 1.3-1.4) of children who consumed them. Compared with households with no ASFs, those with ASFs available were 4.8 times more likely to have children who consumed them. Most of the association between knowledge, beliefs and social norms, and ASF consumption was explained by pathways operating through ASF availability (approximately 9, 12, and 8 pp higher availability, respectively), which in turn were associated with higher consumption. Cow ownership was directly and indirectly associated with ASF consumption, whereas having chickens was indirectly associated with consumption via the availability pathway. Our findings corroborate the importance of maternal behavioural determinants related to feeding ASFs to children during fasting on ASF consumption via household availability and the positive influence of livestock ownership.

Kim SS ，Nguyen PH ，Tran LM ，Abebe Y ，Asrat Y ，Tharaney M ，Menon P ... -  《-》

Determinants and constraints to household-level animal source food consumption in rural communities of Ethiopia.

Animal source foods (ASF) contain quality nutrients important for growth, development, immunity and behavioural outcomes. Plant-based foods also provide the nutrients, but with lower bioavailability than ASF. Evidence on household-level ASF consumption frequency, constraints and determinants are limited for Ethiopia. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the consumption frequency of ASF and to identify determinants and constraints among rural households in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 422 households. The consumption frequency of ASF was assessed using a food frequency screener over 30 days. Twelve statements with Likert scale responses were used to identify constraints to ASF consumption. Ordinal logistic regression was used to identify determinants of ASF consumption. About a quarter (26 %) of the households consumed milk one to two times per week. One out of five households consumed eggs one to two times per week (20 %) or one to two times per month (19 %). Poultry and meat were never consumed by 92 and 60 % of the households, respectively. Unavailability, unaffordability, consumption tradition and income generation priority were constraints identified. Food insecurity, livestock ownership, income, family size and women's education were associated (P < 0⋅05) with selected ASF consumption. Rural households in Ethiopia did not consume ASF on regular basis. Poor socio-demographic and economic conditions as determined by food insecurity, property ownership, income, educational achievement, family size and ASF unavailability and unaffordability contributed to the lower consumption frequency of ASF by households in rural Ethiopia. Nutrition policies and programmes should focus on nutrition-sensitive agricultural extension, livelihood improvement and women empowerment interventions integrated with nutrition education to improve ASF consumption in rural settings.

Daba AK ，Murimi M ，Abegaz K ，Hailu D ... -  《-》

Trends in and predictors of animal source food consumption among 6-23 months age children in Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia: evidence from three consecutive ethiopian demographic and health surveys, EDHS 2005-2016.

Despite numerous interventions, child undernutrition continues as a problem of global concern. Although consumption of animal source foods has shown positive associations with child undernutrition, no much evidence exists on its trends and predictors among children in Tigrai. This study aimed to investigate the trends in and predictors of consumption of animal source foods among children 6-23 months of age in Tigrai. This study used complex data of 756 children extracted from three consecutive Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys. Data were analyzed using STATA 14.0 by accounting for sampling weight and cluster and strata variables. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the independent predictors of animal source foods consumption. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were used to measure strength of association at a statistical significance of p < 0.05. Although statistically not significant (p-trend = 0.28), animal source foods consumption increased from 31.3% to 2005 through 35.9% in 2011 to 41.5% in 2016. For every month increase in the age of a child, a 9% increment in the odds of animal source food consumption was observed. Muslim children showed 3.1 times higher odds of animal source food consumption than Orthodox Christians. The likelihood of animal source foods consumption were 33% lower among children born to mothers who didn't attend formal education as compared to their counterparts. A unit increase in the number of household assets and number of livestock led to a 20% and 2% increase in the odds of animal source foods consumption, respectively. Animal source foods consumption showed a statistically non-significant increase over the three consecutive Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys. This study found out that consumption of animal source foods might be increased through pro-maternal education policies, programs with household asset increasing schemes, and pro-livestock projects. Our study also highlighted the need for considering religion as one important player when planning or undertaking ASF programs.

Gebretsadik GG ，Tadesse Z ，Ambese TY ，Mulugeta A ... -  《-》

Educational intervention and livestock ownership successfully improved the intake of animal source foods in 6-23 months old children in rural communities of Northern Ethiopia: Quasi-experimental study.

Animal source foods (ASFs) are rich in high-quality proteins, including essential amino acids and highly bioavailable micronutrients vital for child growth and cognitive development. But, the daily consumption of ASFs among 6-23 months old children is very low in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of nutrition education intervention to improve the consumption of ASFs among 6-23 months old children from rural communities with strict religious fasting traditions of avoiding intake of ASFs in Northern Ethiopia. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in two food insecure districts namely Samre Seharti (intervention) and Tanqua Abergele (comparison). The mother-child pairs in the intervention group (n = 140) received nutrition education based on the barriers and available resources for optimal consumption of ASFs among children and followed up for nine months. The mother-child pairs in the comparison group (n = 153) received routine nutrition education. The data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The baseline and endline data assessment included interviews on socio-demographic and socio-economic status, dietary intake, and child feeding practices. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured using the difference-in-difference (DID) analysis model. At endline, the consumption of ASFs among children was 19.5 percentage points higher in the intervention group compared with the comparison group (p = 0.008). In addition, there was a significant increase in egg consumption among children in the intervention group (DID of 16.9, p = 0.012) from the comparison group. No child was consuming meat at baseline in both the intervention and comparison arms and it was very low at endline (5.2% vs. 7.9%). Overall, the proportion of children that consumed eggs in the intervention group was higher than in the comparison group in households that owned sheep and goats (4.8% vs. 21.4%, p = 0.050) and chicken (6.3% vs. 43.8%, p = 0.002) after education interventions. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between cow ownership and milk consumption among children (p&gt;0.05). Age-appropriate educational interventions for mothers and owning small livestock in the household can improve the consumption of ASFs and eventually the minimum diet diversity of children in communities with strict religious traditions of avoiding ASFs during the fasting seasons.

Haileselassie M ，Redae G ，Berhe G ，Henry CJ ，Nickerson MT ，Mulugeta A ... -  《PLoS One》