Peer-reviewed article
Infant and young child feeding practices are associated with childhood anaemia and stunting in sub-Saharan Africa
Aaron Kobina Christian, Eric Afful-Dadzie, Grace S. Marquis ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5This study looked at data from 22 sub-Saharan African countries to see how infant and young child feeding practices relate to children having both anaemia and stunting at the same time. It found that better feeding practices, along with higher household wealth, better sanitation, and more education for mothers and household heads, were linked to lower risk of this combined condition. Recent diarrhoea or fever in the child was linked to higher risk. The study used a statistical model to identify mother's education as the strongest predictor, followed by feeding practices, household head's education, and drinking water quality. The authors conclude that improving feeding practices and parental education could help improve children's nutrition.
Key points
- Higher child feeding index scores were associated with lower odds of combined anaemia and stunting (AOR 0.86).
- Household wealth, sanitation, and caregiver education were linked to lower odds of the condition.
- Recent diarrhoea and fever were associated with higher odds of the condition.
- Maternal education was the most important predictor identified by decision tree analysis.
- Data came from 22 Demographic and Health Surveys across sub-Saharan Africa.
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional, so it can show associations but cannot prove that feeding practices cause the outcomes; specific countries studied are not named in the abstract.
Abstract
Abstract Background The co-occurrence of anaemia and stunting (CAS) presents acute development and morbidity challenges to children particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Evidence on the effect of child feeding recommendations on CAS is scarce. Methods We used data from 22 recent Demographic and Health Surveys in SSA countries to examine the association between caregivers’ implementation of recommendations on infant and young child feeding and the CAS in their 6- to 23-mo-old children. Results Overall, in multiple logistic regression models, child feed index score, high wealth of household, increasing household size, household head with at least secondary school education, improved sanitation of household, an increase in caregiver’s age and caregiver’s with at least secondary education were associated with lower odds of CAS (i.e., AOR: 0.86; 95% CI; 0.84 – 0.88: 0.75; 0.69 – 0.82: 0.98, 0.98 – 0.99: 0.76, 0.70 – 0.83: 0.81, 0.74 – 0.87: 0.87, 0.81 – 0.94: 0.69, 0.62 – 0.77 respectively). Having a diarrhoea in the past 2 weeks and having fever in the past month were associated with higher odds of CAS (AOR:1.1, 95% CI; 1.0 – 1.2: 1.1, 1.0 – 1.2, respectively). Results from the decision tree analysis showed that the educational level of women was the most important predictor of CAS, followed by child feeding score, the level of education of the family head and state of drinking water. Conclusion The results buttress the importance of interventions aimed at improving feeding practices and parental educational as a vehicle to improve children’s nutritional status.