School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town 7535, South Africa.
Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 30;19(1):351. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010351.
The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have, on food security and child health is especially concerning. A rapid, Short Message Service (SMS) Maternal and Child Health survey was conducted in South Africa in June 2020 ( = 3140), with a follow-up in July 2020 ( = 2287). This was a national cross-sectional survey conducted among pregnant women and mothers registered with the MomConnect mhealth platform. Logistic regression was conducted to explore the associations between breastfeeding, maternal depressive symptoms, and hunger in the household. High breastfeeding initiation rates and the early introduction of other foods or mixed milk feeding were found. The prevalence of depressive symptoms in this survey sample was 26.95%, but there was no association between breastfeeding behaviour and depressive symptom scores (OR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.63, 1.27). A positive correlation was found between not breastfeeding and not going to the health clinic. The odds of hungry mothers breastfeeding were significantly lower (OR = 0.66; = 0.045). This result also holds in a multivariate framework, including covariates such as depressive symptoms, attendance of a PHC facility, and whether the infant was older than 3 months. Support for breastfeeding must include support, such as economic support, for breastfeeding mothers, to enable them to access nutritious diets. Mothers also need reassurance on the quality of their breastmilk and their ability to breastfeed and should be encouraged to continue to attend the health clinic regularly.
COVID-19 大流行对食品安全和儿童健康的影响尤其令人担忧。2020 年 6 月，南非迅速开展了一项基于短消息服务（SMS）的母婴健康调查（共 3140 名受访者），并于 2020 年 7 月进行了随访（共 2287 名受访者）。这是一项在 MomConnect 移动医疗平台上注册的孕妇和母亲中开展的全国性横断面调查。采用逻辑回归分析方法，探讨了母乳喂养、产妇抑郁症状和家庭饥饿状况之间的关联。调查结果显示，母乳喂养的初始率较高，且早期开始引入其他食物或混合奶喂养。该调查样本中产妇抑郁症状的患病率为 26.95%，但母乳喂养行为与抑郁症状评分之间无相关性（OR = 0.89；95%CI：0.63，1.27）。未母乳喂养与未去卫生诊所之间呈正相关。不母乳喂养的母亲母乳喂养的可能性显著降低（OR = 0.66； = 0.045）。在包括抑郁症状、初级保健设施就诊情况和婴儿是否超过 3 个月等协变量的多变量框架中，这一结果仍然成立。支持母乳喂养必须包括对母乳喂养母亲的经济支持，以使她们能够获得营养饮食。还需要向母亲保证其母乳的质量及其母乳喂养的能力，并鼓励她们定期继续到卫生诊所就诊。
