Department of Health Promotion and Health Behavior, Institute of Public Health, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
Department of Human Physiology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2023 Jan 19;18(1):e0280466. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280466. eCollection 2023.
Iron-rich food consumption has an invaluable effect for neonatal and fetal brain development as well as metabolic activities. Despite the public health importance of the consumption of iron-rich foods, there was no study, that assessed iron-rich food consumption in Rwanda. Therefore this study aimed to assess iron-rich food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months using Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (RDHS).
Secondary data analysis was done using RDHS-2019/20. Total weighted samples of 2455 children aged 6-23 months were included. Data coding, cleaning, and analysis were performed using Stata 16. Multilevel binary logistic regression were performed to identify factors associated with iron-rich food consumption. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with a 95% CI, and p-value <0.05 were used to declare statistical significance.
The prevalence of good iron-rich food consumption was 23.56%(95% CI: 21.92,25.28). Northern province of Rwanda (AOR = 0.26,95%CI: 0.15,0.46), mothers secondary education and above (AOR: 2.37, 95% CI: 1.41, 4.01), married mothers (AOR:1.31, 95% CI: 1.01,1.71), rich wealth status (AOR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.48, 2.86), having post-natal visit (AOR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.10,1.91), mothers media exposure (AOR: 1.75, 95% CI: 1.22, 2.52) and drugs given for intestinal parasite (AOR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.80) were associated with iron-rich food consumption.
This study shows that overall iron-rich foods consumption was low in Rwanda. The residing in the North province, mother's secondary and higher educational status, married marital status, rich and middle wealth status, having media exposure, drugs given for intestinal parasites, and having child's post-natal checkup were variables significantly associated with iron-rich food consumption. The region-based intervention will improve the consumption of iron-rich food. In addition, health policies and programs should target educating mothers/caregivers, encouraging parents to live together, improving their wealth status, working on mass media access by the women, and encouraging mothers post-natal checkups to improve iron-rich food consumption.
富含铁的食物的摄入对新生儿和胎儿的大脑发育以及新陈代谢活动有极其重要的作用。尽管富含铁的食物的摄入对公众健康很重要，但在卢旺达，还没有研究评估富含铁的食物的摄入情况。因此，本研究旨在使用卢旺达人口与健康调查（RDHS）评估 6-23 个月儿童的富含铁的食物摄入情况及其相关因素。
使用 RDHS-2019/20 进行二次数据分析。共纳入 2455 名 6-23 个月大的儿童的总加权样本。使用 Stata 16 进行数据编码、清理和分析。采用多水平二项逻辑回归分析确定与富含铁的食物摄入相关的因素。使用调整后的优势比（AOR）和 95%置信区间（CI）以及 p 值<0.05 来表示统计学意义。
良好的富含铁的食物摄入的流行率为 23.56%（95%CI：21.92，25.28）。卢旺达北部省份（AOR=0.26，95%CI：0.15，0.46）、母亲接受过中学及以上教育（AOR：2.37，95%CI：1.41，4.01）、已婚母亲（AOR：1.31，95%CI：1.01，1.71）、富裕的财富状况（AOR=2.06，95%CI：1.48，2.86）、产后检查（AOR=1.45，95%CI：1.10，1.91）、母亲接触媒体（AOR：1.75，95%CI：1.22，2.52）和寄生虫感染药物（AOR=1.37，95%CI：1.04，1.80）与富含铁的食物摄入相关。
本研究表明，卢旺达整体富含铁的食物摄入水平较低。居住在北部省份、母亲接受过中学及以上教育、已婚的婚姻状况、富裕和中等财富状况、接触媒体、寄生虫感染药物以及儿童产后检查是与富含铁的食物摄入显著相关的变量。基于区域的干预措施将提高富含铁的食物的摄入。此外，卫生政策和方案应针对教育母亲/照顾者、鼓励父母共同生活、改善他们的财富状况、促进妇女接触大众媒体以及鼓励母亲产后检查，以改善富含铁的食物摄入。
