Mussa Ibsa, Gamachu Mulugeta, Regassa Lemma Demissie, Birhanu Abdi, Mohammed Fethia, Weyessa Alemayehu Deressa, Eyeberu Addis, Debela Adera, Zakaria Hamdi Fekredin
School of Public Health, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia.
School of Medicine, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia.
Front Nutr. 2024 Oct 17;11:1336568. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1336568. eCollection 2024.
Nutrient deficiencies in Africa persist due to limited access to animal-source foods, causing a higher undernutrition prevalence, with 30.7% stunted children under five, which is higher than the global average of 22.0%. In African regions, there needs to be more information on access, consumption, and factors influencing children's animal-source food consumption. Therefore, we comprehensively analyse data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to determine factors associated with children's (aged 6-23 months) consumption of animal-source foods (ASFs) in East African countries, which is crucial for policy and program development.
We utilized cross-sectional pooled DHS data from nine East African countries reported from 2015 to 2021. The sample size consisted of 18,686 weighted children aged 6-23 months who were included. The DHS data were collected from women (15-49 years old) from households in each enumeration area of each country. We calculated the pooled proportion of consumption of foods of animal origin using multi-level logistic regression analysis to determine factors of ASFs, and the strength of the association was measured by an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% CI and a -value < 0.05, which was declared as significant.
The study found that 51.07% (95% CI: 50.26-51.88%) of infants and young children in East Africa consume ASFs, with variation across countries, of which 28.26% (95% CI: 26.31-30.29%) was the lowest in Burundi and 55.81% (95% CI: 53.39-58.21%) was the highest ASF consumption in Zimbabwe. The amount of ASF consumed grows with children's age and varies greatly between countries. In addition, children in the wealthiest quintile and with the highest educational attainment consume more ASFs. However, those who lived in rural areas consumed fewer ASFs.
The consumption of ASFs increased with the age of children, maternal education, and household wealth index. The government and non-government sectors should implement public health interventions targeting rural residents and poor households to increase access to and consumption of ASFs for children aged 6-23 months in East Africa.
由于获取动物源食物的机会有限，非洲的营养缺乏问题持续存在，导致营养不良患病率较高，五岁以下儿童发育迟缓率达30.7%，高于全球平均水平22.0%。在非洲各地区，关于获取、消费以及影响儿童动物源食物消费的因素，需要更多信息。因此，我们全面分析了人口与健康调查（DHS）的数据，以确定东非国家中与儿童（6至23个月大）动物源食物（ASF）消费相关的因素，这对政策和项目制定至关重要。
我们利用了2015年至2021年报告的九个东非国家的横断面汇总DHS数据。样本量包括18,686名加权的6至23个月大的儿童。DHS数据是从每个国家每个普查区域内家庭中的妇女（15至49岁）收集的。我们使用多水平逻辑回归分析计算动物源性食物消费的汇总比例，以确定ASF的影响因素，并通过调整后的优势比（AOR）及95%置信区间和p值<0.05来衡量关联强度，p值<0.05被视为具有显著性。
研究发现，东非51.07%（95%置信区间：50.26 - 51.88%）的婴幼儿消费ASF，各国之间存在差异，其中布隆迪最低，为28.26%（95%置信区间：26.31 - 30.29%），津巴布韦的ASF消费最高，为55.81%（95%置信区间：53.39 - 58.21%）。ASF的消费量随儿童年龄增长，且各国之间差异很大。此外，最富裕五分位数组和受教育程度最高的儿童消费更多的ASF。然而，农村地区的儿童消费的ASF较少。
ASF的消费量随着儿童年龄、母亲教育程度和家庭财富指数的增加而增加。政府和非政府部门应针对农村居民和贫困家庭实施公共卫生干预措施，以增加东非6至23个月大儿童获取和消费ASF的机会。
