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Objective: We aimed to evaluate the association between household food insecurity and maternal depression in Ethiopia. Design/Setting/Subjects In 2014, we conducted a cross-sectional study in southern Ethiopia, including 591 food-secure and 2500 food-insecure households. We measured depression status of women using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 validated for Ethiopia, with a cut-off of ≥5. We evaluated household-level food insecurity using a validated Household Food Insecurity Access Scale. We applied Bayesian modelling to evaluate the relationship between food insecurity and maternal depression accounting for other observed characteristics.Results: Among the analytic sample, 80·8 (95 % CI 79·4, 82·2) % of women were living in food-insecure households. The overall prevalence of probable depression (mild and moderate forms) was 4·7 (95 % CI 4·1, 5·6) %. All individual depressive symptoms had a significantly higher prevalence in the food-insecure group, except for suicidal ideation (but small numbers; P<0·001). In the Bayesian model adjusting for paternal characteristics, there was a significant dose-response linear relationship (trend) between household food insecurity and maternal depression (P<0·01). The adjusted OR (95 % Bayesian credible interval) for depression for differing levels of food insecurity were: mild food insecurity, 3·29 (1·63, 6·18); moderate, 3·82 (1·91, 7·45); severe, 12·50 (3·38, 32·70).Conclusions: The study documented a high burden of depression among women who lived in food-insecure households. Given this finding, we recommend integrating mental health in the livelihood programmes in areas suffering from food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Poor maternal mental health during the perinatal period leads to serious complications, especially in humanitarian settings where both mothers and children have often been exposed to multiple stressful events. In those contexts, culturally relevant mental health and psychosocial interventions are required to support mother-infant dyads and ultimately to alleviate potential negative outcomes on child's health and development. Objectives: This study aims at assessing the use of postnatal services by mothers and infants under 2 and its impact on maternal mental health. Methods: A process evaluation of Baby Friendly Spaces (BFS) program was conducted in Nguynyel refugee camp (Ethiopia) and a prospective quantitative assessment was administered to lactating women at baseline and endline (2 months later) to measure maternal functional impairment (WHODAS 2.0), general psychological distress (Kessler scale-K6); depression symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-PHQ9) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSD Checklist-PCL-6). Results: 201 lactating women and their babies were enrolled between October 2018 and March 2019. Statistically significant reductions were observed in all mental health outcomes at followup. Total mean scores decrease by 19% (p<0.001) for general psychological distress and posttraumatic stress, by 23% (p<0.001) for the depression and by 15% (p<0.001) for the functional impairment. Examination of the compliance to the services revealed that mothers who dropped out early had statistically significantly lower depression scores (p=0.01), and functional impairment scores (p<0.001) than mothers who stayed in the program. Conclusions: The integration of maternal mental health interventions within perinatal services is challenging but essential for identifying and treating maternal common mental disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]