Minimum dietary diversity and its associated factors among infants and young children in Ethiopia: evidence from Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (2016)

Background: Adequate infant and young child feeding during the first 1000 days of life is very essential to improve child health, survival, growth, and development through minimum dietary diversity (MDD). Hence, this study aimed to assess MDD and its multi-level factors among infants and young children aged 6-23 months in Ethiopia. Methods: Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS-2016) data was used to identify both individual and community-level factors of dietary diversity. Weighted samples of 2,962 children were eligible and a multi-level regression model was used for the analysis. Finally, factors with a P-value of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The prevalence of MDD among children in Ethiopia was 12.09%. According to this study, factors such as having a mother who attended higher education (AOR = 3.09, (95% CI; _1.67-5.71)), being a female household head (AOR = 0.62, (95% CI; _0.40-0.95)), having a mother's agricultural occupation (AOR = 1.89, (95% CI; _1.10-3.23)) and living in the household in the richest wealth index were significantly associated at the individual level. At the community level, children living in rural areas (AOR = 0.62, 95% CI; 0.39-0.98) were significant risk factors for MDD (AOR = 0.62, 95% CI; 0.39-0.98). Conclusion: The educational and occupational status of the mother, wealth index, and region were significantly associated with MDD. Hence, strengthening of the existing nutritional intervention is helpful to increase diversified food consumption among children.