Inadequate nutrition during the first two years of life may lead to childhood morbidity and mortality, as well as inadequate brain development. Infants are at increased risk of malnutrition by six months, when breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet their nutritional requirements. However the factors associated with nutritional status of infants after 6 months of age have received little attention in pastoralist communities of Ethiopia. Therefore this study aimed to identify the factors associated with nutritional status of infants and young children (6–23 months) in Filtu town, Somali Region, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted. Simple random sampling was employed to select 214 infants for the study. Univariable and multivariable logistic regressions models were used in the statistical analysis. The strength of association was measured by odds ratios with 95 % confidence intervals. Both the crude (COR) and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) are reported. The prevalence of wasting, stunting and underweight among infants and young children were 17.5 % (95 % CI: 12.91-23.22), 22.9 % (95 % CI: 17.6-28.9) and 19.5 % (95 % CI: 14.58-25.3) respectively. The multivariable logistic regression model showed that breastfeeding was independently associated with reduced odds of wasting (AOR = 0.38(95 % CI: 0.14-0.99)). Diarrhea in the past 15 days (AOR = 2.13 (95 % CI: 1.55-4.69)) was also associated with increased odds for wasting. The independent predictors of reduced odds for stunting were dietary diversity score ≥4 (AOR = 0.45(95 % CI: 0.21-0.95)) and introduction of complementary feeding at 6 months (AOR = 0.25 (95 % CI: 0.09-0.66)). Bottle feeding was associated with increased odds of stunting (AOR = 3.83 (95 % CI: 1.69-8.67)). Breastfeeding was associated with reduced odds of underweight (AOR = 0.24 (95 % CI: 0.1-0.59)), while diarrheal disease in the past 15 days was associated with increased odds of underweight (AOR = 3.54 (95 % CI: 1.17-7.72)). Under nutrition is a public health problem among infants and young children in Filtu town, Somali region Ethiopia. Breastfeeding was associated with lower odds of wasting and underweight while diarrheal disease was associated with higher odds of wasting and underweight. Low dietary diversity scores, inappropriate age of complementary feeding initiation and bottle feeding were identified to be significant predictors of stunting. Those factors should be considered for any intervention aimed to reduce under nutrition among infants and young children in Filitu town, Somali region, Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, limited information is available about the epidemiology of over-nutrition. This study assessed the prevalence of, and factors associated with overweight and obesity among adults in Hawassa city, Southern Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in August 2015 in the city. A total of 531 adults 18–64 years of age were selected using multistage sampling approach. Interviewer administered qualitative food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the consumption pattern of twelve food groups. The level of physical exercise was measured via the General Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). Based on anthropometric measurements, Body Mass Index (BMI) was computed and overweight including obesity (BMI of 25 or above) was defined. For identifying predictors of overweight and obesity, multivariable binary logistic regression model was fitted and the outputs are presented using Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI). The prevalence of overweight including obesity was 28.2% (95% CI: 24.2–32.2). Significant proportions of adults had moderate (37.6%) or low (2.6%) physical activity level. As compared to men, women had 2.56 (95% CI: 1.85–4.76) times increased odds of overweight/obesity. With reference to adults 18–24 years of age, the odds were three times higher among adults 45–54 (3.06, 95% CI: 1.29–7.20) and 55–64 (2.88, 95% CI: 1.06–7.84) years. Those from the highest income tercile were 3.16 times (95% CI: 1.88–5.30) more likely to be overweight/obese as compared to adults from the lowest tercile. Having moderate (3.10, 95% CI: 1.72–5.60) or low (4.80 95% CI: 2.50–9.23) physical activity was also significantly associated with the outcome. Further, daily intake of alcohol and, frequent consumption of sweets, meat and eggs were associated with overweight/obesity. Conversely, no significant associations were evident for meal frequency, practices of skipping breakfast, behavior of eating away from home and frequency of consumption of fast foods, fruits and vegetables. Prompting active lifestyle, limiting intakes of sweets, advocating optimum consumption of alcohol and calorie dense animal source foods, especially amongst the better-off segment of the population, may reduce the magnitude of over-nutrition.

Multi-mycotoxin exposure data are missing to guide risk assessment and legislation in Ethiopia. This study therefore aimed to determine mycotoxin contamination levels in maize samples from 176 randomly selected household storages in three agro ecological zones of South (Sidama zone) and West (Jimma zone) Ethiopia, and to examine the post-harvest practices and household processing. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry was used to quantify 23 mycotoxins. The majority of the households regularly consumed maize (more than once per day). More (77%) samples in Sidama were contaminated withFusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol than in Jimma (29%) (P0.05). In Sidama, only one sample was contaminated with theAspergillus mycotoxin aflatoxin B₂ and another sample with aflatoxin B₁. From all samples, 40% were contaminated with 3-5 types ofFusarium mycotoxins and only 4% of the samples were contaminated with 6-8 types of mycotoxins. After the harvested maize was dried on the field, the majority of respondents in Jimma reported that they removed the maize within one day, which was less practiced in Sidama. The majority of households in Sidama, and some in Jimma, reported that they dried maize before storage, mainly using the sun. Close to two third of the study participants in the two zones reported that they applied the chemical dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) during maize storage. All households in both zones reported that they sorted visible mouldy maize grains before preparation of maize flour while most of them kept the mouldy maize for animal feed. Protective strategies ofFusarium mycotoxin contamination, with special focus on deoxynivalenol and zearalenone, should be well promoted in the study areas as they are possible human and animal health threats.