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Background: Though Ethiopia has implemented different nutritional interventions, childhood stunting on which literature is limited continues as a severe public health problem. Thus, this study aimed to investigate stunting and its determinants among children aged 6-59 months in the predominantly rural northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June 2015 at Dabat Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site. A total of 1295 mother-child pairs were included for analysis. An ordinal multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify the determinants of severe stunting. To show the strength of associations, both Crude Odds Ratio (COR) and Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were estimated. Also, a P-value of <0.05 was used to declare statistical significance in the final model. Results: The overall prevalence of stunting among children aged 6-59 months was 64.5%, of which about 37.7% and 26.8% were moderately and severely stunted, respectively. Farming occupation of mother [AOR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.93], lack of postnatal vitamin-A supplementation [AOR = 1.54; 95%: 1.19, 2.00], poorer household wealth status [AOR = 2.07; CI: 1.56, 2.75] and accessing family food from farms [AOR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.89] were identified as the key determinants of severe stunting. Conclusion: In the district, the magnitude of stunting was a critical public health concern. Therefore, emphasis should be given to improving mothers' postnatal vitamin A supplementation coverage and building knowledge about appropriate child feeding practices among farmer mothers and poorer households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Morbidity and mortality rates of food borne diseases are consistently highest in African due to poor food handling and sanitation practices. Thus, the study aimed to assess food handling practice and associated factors among food handlers of Restaurants in Bahir Dar Town, northwest, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from December, 7/2012 to January, 2/2013 among food handlers working in 106 restaurants in Bahir Dar Town. A structured questionnaire composed of socio-demographic factors, food safety knowledge, working environmental characteristics and food hygiene practice of food handlers was employed to collect the data via interviewing and observations. Binary logistic regression model was fitted to assess factors associated with food hygiene practice after multi-collinearity and outlier were checked and data was clean. Both crude odds ratio (COR) and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) were estimated to show the strength of association. In multivariate analysis, variables with a P value of ≤ 0.05 were considered as statistical significant. Results: About 67.6% [95% confidence interval (CI) 58.8, 76.4] of food handlers had good food hygiene practice, whereas 32.4% of food handlers had poor food hygiene practice. The odds of having good food hygiene practice was higher among food handlers who had received food safety training [AOR: 4.7, 95% CI 1.7, 12.8], had formal education [AOR: 6.4, 95% CI 3.5, 11.5] and work experiences greater than 2 years [AOR: 3.4, 95% CI 1.8, 6.4]. At last, food handlers working in restaurants which had piped fountains for hand wash were 2.1 times more likely to have good food hygiene practice[AOR: 2.1, 95% CI 1.1, 3.8]. Conclusion: In this study, the overall food hygiene practice of food handlers is not to the acceptable level. Therefore, endeavors ought to be reinforced to improve food hygiene practices of food handlers through intervention programs such as training and education. Also emphasis should be given on the accessibility of piped fountains for the better food handling practice of food handlers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anemia is associated with adverse health and socio-economic consequences among pregnant women. Particularly, severe anemia increases the risk of maternal mortality by 20%. However, literatures are scarce in the northwest Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the magnitude and associated factors of anemia among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Dera District, South Gondar Zone, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Dera District health centers from June 27 to September 2, 2015. Capillary blood samples were taken from 348 pregnant women. The raw measured values of hemoglobin were obtained using the portable Hb301 instrument and adjusted for altitude. Besides, nutritional status of the women was assessed by the mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) taken on non-dominant upper limb, mostly of the left hand. Socio-demographic factors, obstetric history, environmental related factors and dietary intake were collected by interviewing the pregnant women. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with anemia. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was computed to show the strength of association. In multivariable analysis, a P value of <0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. Results: The overall prevalence of anemia among pregnant women was 30.5% [95% CI 21.0, 40.0]. The result of multivariable analysis revealed that the likelihood of anemia was higher among pregnant women living in rural areas [AOR = 3.03, 95% CI 1.17, 7.82], had no latrine [AOR = 4.75, 95% CI 1.15, 16.60], low monthly income:

Background: Delaying the start of breastfeeding and giving prelacteal feeding leads to a significant increase in neonatal and infant deaths, particularly in a resource limited countries, like Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess early neonatal feeding practice and its determinants in Dabat HDSS site, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: The census for the reconciliation of the surveillance of the Dabat Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site was conducted from October to December 2014. Data were entered into the Household Registration System (HRS) version 2.1 and analyzed using Stata version 14. A total of 6,761 mother-child pairs were included in the study. Sociodemographic factors, maternal health care and early neonatal feeding practices (early initiation of breastfeeding and prelacteal feeding) were collected by interviewing the mothers. The prevalence of early/timely initiation of breastfeeding was computed as the ratio of children put to the breast within one hour of delivery to the total number of children. Prelacteal feeding was defined as giving anything to drink other than breast milk in the first three days following birth. Binary logistic regression models were used to identify variables which were associated with the dependent variable. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with early initiation of breastfeeding. Results: The prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding was 43.9% (95% CI, 41.6, 46.2). More than half (56%) of the mothers gave prelacteal feeds. An urban residence (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.47, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.25. 1.73) and antenatal care (AOR 1.41, 95% CI 1.24, 1.59) were correlated with early initiation of breastfeeding. Similarly, increased odds of timely initiation of breastfeeding were observed among mothers who didn't give prelacteal feeds (AOR 5.72; 95% CI, 5.12, 6.40). Conclusion: Delayed initiation of breastfeeding and prelacteal feeding still remain public health concerns in this community. The promotion of improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and the utilization of antenatal care services should be intensified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Though there is a marked decline in burden of undernutrition, about 44 and 10% of children under five are stunted and wasted, respectively in Ethiopia. The highest prevalence of wasting occurs in young children (6-23 months), however literature are limited in these population groups. Therefore, this study aimed to assess stunting, wasting and associated factors among children aged 6-24 months in Dabat Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site, northwest Ethiopia.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Dabat HDSS site from May 01 to June 29, 2015. A total of 587 mother-child pairs were included in the study. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with stunting and wasting, separately.Results: The prevalence of stunting and wasting among children aged 6-24 months were 58.1 and 17.0%, respectively. Poor wealth status [Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 2.20; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.42, 3.40], unavailability of latrine [AOR = 1.76; 95% CI: 1.17, 2.66], child age: 12-24 months [AOR = 3.24; 95% CI: 2.24, 4.69], not receiving maternal postnatal vitamin-A supplementation [AOR = 1.54; 95%: 1.02, 2.33] and source of family food: own food production [AOR = 1.71; 95% CI: 1.14, 2.57] were significantly associated with higher odds of stunting. However, only history of diarrheal morbidity was significantly associated with wasting [AOR = 2.06; 95% CI: 1.29, 3.30].Conclusions: In this community, the magnitude of stunting and wasting exists as a severe public health concern. Therefore, improving socio-economic status, latrine and maternal postnatal vitamin-supplementation coverage are essential to mitigate the high burden of stunting. Besides, reducing the childhood diarrheal morbidity as well as strengthening early diagnosis and management of the problem are crucial to curve the high prevalence of wasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Sub-Saharan Africa, most nutrition efforts have concentrated on under-nutrition in children. However, national surveys rarely report the high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children. Likewise, in Ethiopia there is growing recognition of the emergence of a "double-burden" of malnutrition, with under and over nutrition occurring simultaneously among children, especially allied with improvements in socio-economic conditions. Hence, the study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity among private kindergarten school children aged 3-6 years in Bahirdar town, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A school-based cross sectional study was conducted in Bahirdar Town, northwest Ethiopia from August to September, 2015. Anthropometric measurements such as weight and height were taken from 462 private Kindergarten preschool children aged 3-6 years; socio-economic and demographic factors and feeding practices were collected by interviewing the, mothers or caregivers of the children. The z-score values for BMI-for-age of children were generated using Emergency Nutrition Assessment (ENA) for Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief Transitions (SMART) 2011. Binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with overweight and obesity in children. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to show the strength of association. Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 6.9% [95% CI 2.4, 11.4]. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were 4.1 and 2.8%, respectively. The odds of overweight and obesity was higher among children with high dietary diversity score (DDS) [AOR = 5.12, 95% CI 1.42, 18.47], family size of less than five [AOR = 4.76, 95% CI 1.84, 12.31] and a family having a private car [AOR = 3.43, 95% CI 1.02, 11.49]. Conclusions: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among private kindergarten preschool children in the study area was high. Interventions on improving feeding practice and doing physical activities are important for the control of overweight and obesity among children in urban settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Eating disorders are very complex, frequently developed and have a public health impact on adolescents. Different studies revealed that eating disorders is a pressing public health problem among adolescents. Eating disorders may also lead to mortality due to their physiological sequelae. There is no previous study regarding disordered of eating attitude in Ethiopian adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to assess prevalence of disordered eating attitude and its associated factors among adolescents in Addis Ababa high schools. Methods: A school-based cross sectional study was conducted. Data were collected among 836 high school adolescents aged 12-19 years from May to June, 2015 in Addis Ababa city. The data were collected by self-administered questionnaire containing eating attitudes test-26 items (EAT-26) and socio-demographic factors. Binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with disordered eating attitude. Both crude odds ratio and adjusted odds ratio were calculated to show the strength of association. In multivariable analysis, variables with a P value of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The prevalence of disordered eating attitude among adolescents was 8.6% [95% CI 4.9, 12.3]. Being female [AOR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.03, 3.00], Mother's educational status (Primary [AOR = 0.28, 95% CI 0.11, 0.78], Certificate/diploma [AOR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.07, 0.58] and first degree and above [AOR = 0.16, 95% CI 0.07, 0.40]) were found to be significantly associated with disordered eating attitude. Conclusion: The finding of this study revealed that a significant number of adolescents were susceptible to developing disordered eating attitude. Being female and Mothers' education status were significantly associated with disordered eating attitude among adolescents. Provision of screening test for eating disorders focusing on female adolescents is highly recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]