Zelalem Habtamu, Demilew Yeshalem Mulugeta, Dagne Samuel, Dessie Anteneh Mengist
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Felege Hiwot Comperhensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
BMC Nutr. 2023 Mar 28;9(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s40795-023-00713-0.
Child under-nutrition remains a widespread problem around the globe. Improving child nutrition and empowering women are two important and closely connected development goals. These two interconnected goals will affect one another through different mechanisms, and the net effect may not necessarily be positive. Yet, the impact of maternal employment, one method of empowering mothers, on children's nutritional is not well studied in Ethiopia. Hence, this study is to compare the prevalence of under-nutrition and its associated factors among 6-23 months old children of employed and unemployed mothers in town kebeles of Dera district, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022.
A community-based comparative cross-sectional study design was conducted among 356 employed and 356 unemployed mothers having 6-23 months old children. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Epi-data version 3.1 and SPSS version 25.0 statistical software were used for data entry and analysis, respectively. Both bi-variable and multivariable binary logistic regression was done to assess the association between independent and dependent variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 in a multivariable binary logistic regression was declared as the level of statistical significance.
The prevalence of under-nutrition was 69.8% (95% CI: 65.0, 74.7) among children of unemployed mothers, compared to 27.4% (95% CI: 22.7, 32.2) among children of employed mothers. Under-nutrition among children of unemployed mothers was significantly associated with being a male child, age increase by one month, household food insecurity, lack of ANC follow-up, and not exclusively breastfed. Whereas, among children of employed mothers, being a male child, age increase by one month, being sick during the last two weeks prior to data collection, not immunized to their age, and low meal frequency were significantly associated with their under-nutrition.
The prevalence of under-nutrition among children of unemployed women is significantly higher than those children of employed women which consolidate the evidence that women's employment status have a positive association with child nutrition. Different factors were also identified as significant predictors of child under-nutrition among these two groups (employed and unemployed women). Thus, multi-sectoral intervention approach together with agriculture and education offices should be strengthened.
儿童营养不良在全球范围内仍然是一个普遍存在的问题。改善儿童营养和增强妇女权能是两个重要且紧密相关的发展目标。这两个相互关联的目标将通过不同机制相互影响，其净效应不一定是积极的。然而，在埃塞俄比亚，作为增强母亲权能的一种方式，母亲就业对儿童营养的影响尚未得到充分研究。因此，本研究旨在比较2022年埃塞俄比亚西北部德雷达区城镇社区中就业和未就业母亲6至23个月大孩子的营养不良患病率及其相关因素。
对356名有6至23个月大孩子的就业母亲和356名未就业母亲进行了一项基于社区的比较横断面研究设计。采用系统随机抽样技术选择研究参与者。分别使用Epi - data 3.1版和SPSS 25.0版统计软件进行数据录入和分析。进行双变量和多变量二元逻辑回归以评估自变量和因变量之间的关联。多变量二元逻辑回归中p值小于0.05被视为具有统计学意义。
未就业母亲的孩子中营养不良患病率为69.8%（95%置信区间：65.0，74.7），而就业母亲的孩子中这一比例为27.4%（95%置信区间：22.7，32.2）。未就业母亲的孩子营养不良与男性、年龄每增加一个月、家庭粮食不安全、缺乏产前保健随访以及非纯母乳喂养显著相关。而在就业母亲的孩子中，男性、年龄每增加一个月、在数据收集前两周内生病、未按年龄进行免疫接种以及进餐频率低与营养不良显著相关。
未就业妇女的孩子中营养不良患病率显著高于就业妇女的孩子，这证实了妇女就业状况与儿童营养呈正相关的证据。在这两组（就业和未就业妇女）中还确定了不同因素是儿童营养不良的重要预测因素。因此，应加强与农业和教育部门合作的多部门干预方法。
