Insufficient quantities, frequencies, and inadequate quality of complementary feedings have a negative effect on child health and growth, especially in the first two years of life. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the minimum dietary diversity, meal frequency and its associated factors among infants and young children aged 6–23 months at Dabat District, northwest, Ethiopia. A community- based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 15 to March 10, 2016. The simple random sampling method was used to select study participants. An interviewer- administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Both Crude and Adjusted Odds Ratio with the corresponding 95% confidence interval were calculated to show the strength of association. In the multivariable analysis, variables with less than 0.05 P-value were considered statistically significant. The proportion of children who met the minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency were 17% (95% CI: 14.9, 19.4%) and 72.2% (95% CL: 69.3, 75%), respectively. Satisfactory media exposure (AOR = 2.79; 95% CI: 1.74, 4.47), postnatal care visits (AOR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.32, 2.88), participation in child growth and monitoring follow ups (AOR = 1.65; 95% CI: 1.14, 2.39), age of children (AOR = 2.34; 95% CI: 1.33, 4.11) and age of mothers (AOR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.09, 3.27) were positively associated with dietary diversity. Similarly, age of children (AOR = 2.38; 95% CI: 1.56, 3.65), household wealth status (AOR = 1.84; 95% CI: 1.27, 2.68), residence (AOR = 3.02; 95% CI: 1.41, 6.48), sources of information (AOR = 1.72; 95% CI:1.14, 2.59) and participation in child growth monitoring folow ups (AOR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.13, 2.19) were significantly associated with meal frequency. In this study, the proportion of children who received the minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency were low. Media exposure, age of children, postnatal care visits, and participation in child growth and monitoring follow-ups were significantly associated with dietary diversity. Likewise, wealth status and residence had a significant association with meal frequency. Thus, encouraging all mothers to participate in child monthly growth monitoring programs, intensive media advertising and strengthening counseling of mothers, and postnatal care visit are highly recommended for achieving the recommended dietary practices.

Nutritional status of children influences their health status, which is a key determinant of human development. In Ethiopia, 28% of child mortality is caused by under nutrition. There is also some controversial evidence about the association between maternal characteristics and nutritional status of under five children. This study was aimed to assess the association between maternal characteristics and nutritional status among 6–59 months of children in Ethiopia. This was furtheranalysis ofthe 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveyusing7452 children.. Generalized estimating equations was used to quantify the association of maternal factors with stunting and wasting. Both crude Odds ratio and adjusted odds ratio with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals were reported to show the strength of association. In multivariable analysis, variables with a p-value of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The higher odds of stunting were found among children whose mothers had no education (AOR = 1.58; 95%CI: 1.25, 2.0) and primary education (AOR = 1.42; 95%CI: 1.13, 1.78), underweight nutritional status (AOR = 1.59; 95%CI: 1.27, 2.0), and anemia (AOR = 1.16; 95%CI: 1.04, 1.30). Similarly, higher odds of wasting were observed among children whose mother had underweight nutritional status (AOR = 2.34; 95%CI: 1.65, 3.38), delivered at home (AOR = 1.31; 95%CI: 1.07, 1.60), and lower than 24 months birth interval (AOR = 1.31; 95%CI: 1.04, 1.64). Maternal education, nutritional status, and anemia were associated with child stunting. Also maternal nutritional status, place of delivery, and preceding birth interval were associated with wasting. Therefore, there is needed to enhance the nutritional status of children by improving maternal underweight nutritional status, maternal educational and maternal anemia status, prolonging birth interval, and promoting health facility delivery.

Objective: Currently, the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity is an emerging public health problem in middle- and low-income countries such as Ethiopia. However, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Ethiopian adults who live in the major cities is not well documented. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity among adults in Dessie town, northeast Ethiopia. Subjects and methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 15 to April 10, 2015. A total of 751 adults aged 18–64 years were included. Multistage followed by systematic random sampling method was used to select the study participants. Both bivariable and multivariable ordinal logistic regression were done. The proportional odds ratio (POR) with a 95% CI was reported to show the strength of association. A P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Of all participants, 19.9% (95% CI: 16.9%, 23.1%) were recorded to be overweight and 8.6% (95% CI: 6.6%, 10.9%) to be obese. The odds of being overnourished (overweight or obese) were higher among adults who had snack intake habit (POR =1.52; 95 CI: 1.04, 2.20), drank alcohol (POR =1.75; 95% CI: 1.04, 2.97), had higher wealth status (POR =2.29; 95% CI: 1.26, 4.19), and were married (POR =2.22; 95% CI: 1.49, 3.29) compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: Compared to the previous local reports, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the study area is high; this appears to be an emerging problem in Ethiopia. Hence, there is a need to develop a control and prevention strategy on potentially modifiable risk factors of overweight and obesity.

Globally, more than two billion people are at risk of iodine deficiency disorders, 32% of which are school children. Iodine deficiency has been recognized as a severe public health concern in Ethiopia, however little is known about the problem. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of goiter and associated factors among school children (6 to 12 years) in Dabat District, northwest Ethiopia. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 21 to March 31, 2016. A total of 735 school children were included in the study. A stratified multistage sampling followed by systematic sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. Thyroid physical examination was done and classified according to the World Health Organization recommendations as grade 0, grade 1, and grade 2. The level of salt iodine content was determined using the rapid field test kit. The value 0 parts per million (PPM), <15 PPM and ≥15 PPM with the corresponding color chart on the rapid test kit were used to classify the level of iodine in the sampled salt. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with goiter. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was calculated to show the strength of association. In multivariable analysis, variables with a P-value of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. In this community, the overall prevalence of goiter was 29.1% [95% CI: 25.9, 32.6], in which about 22.4 and 6.7% had goiter grade 1 and grade 2, respectively. The age of children (AOR = 1.13; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.26), being housewife mother (AOR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.08, 2.15), use of unprotected well water source for drinking (AOR = 6.25; 95% CI: 2.50, 15.66), medium household wealth status (AOR = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.92), use of inadequately iodized salt (AOR = 2.79; 95% CI: 1.86, 4.19), poor dietary diversity score of the child (AOR = 1.92;95% CI: 1.06, 3.48) and medium maternal knowledge (AOR = 0.65; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.94) were significantly associated with goiter. The prevalence of goiter is higher in Dabat District, which confirmed a moderate public health problem. Therefore, regular monitoring of household salt iodine content, improving access to safe water, promoting the importance of diversified food for children is recommended to address the higher burden of iodine deficiency.

Background: Many people, especially in developing countries such as Ethiopia, are migrating to cities. The majority of these people have settled in slum areas, which often have poor sanitation and housing conditions. Therefore, this study was conducted to gather evidence on nutritional status and associated factors among children aged 6–59 months living in slum areas of Gondar city, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from 3 to 28 May 2017. A total of 593 children from the slum areas aged 6–59 months were included in the study. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify the independent determinants of stunting and wasting. Results: The overall prevalences of stunting and wasting were 42.3% (95% CI 38.34, 46.3%) and 7.3% (95% CI 5.3, 9.4%), respectively. Poor wealth status (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =1.79; 95% CI 1.19, 2.70) and age of child 24–35 months (AOR=2.56; 95% CI 1.32, 4.96), 36–47 months (AOR=2.27; 95% CI 1.14, 4.54) and 48–59 months (AOR=2.69; 95% CI 1.35, 5.32) were independently associated with stunting. Similarly, presence of a fever in the previous 2 weeks (AOR=2.29; 95% CI 1.20, 4.38) and paternal control over resources (AOR=3.66; 95% CI 1.12, 11.04) were associated with wasting. Children of uneducated mothers (AOR=3.30; 95% CI 1.29, 8.46) were also more likely to be wasted. Conclusion: This study illustrates that undernutrition is prevalent in the slum areas of Gondar city and is a critical public health problem. Therefore, attention should be targeted at economically disadvantaged children living in slum areas. In addition, there is a need to improve medical awareness of families with young children in these areas and increase the health-seeking behavior of these families, primarily by focusing on maternal education. Increasing women’s decision-making autonomy over household resources is also recommended to address the problem.

Chronic energy deficiency is an important public health problem among older (aged ≥ 65 years) population. Globally, one in seven older people has a medium to high risk of malnutrition. The situation of chronic energy deficiency among older people is quite poorly known in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the magnitude of chronic energy deficiency and associated factors among elders’ aged ≥ 65 years, in Aykel town administration, Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia. A community based cross-sectional survey was carried out from March 28^th to April 20^th, 2018. Study participants were recruited by a census technique. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis used to identify factors associated with chronic energy deficiency. All variables with p–values of < 0.2 in the bivariate analysis were remarked for the multivariable analysis. Both Crude Odds Ratio (COR) and Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) were computed to determine the strength of association. In the multivariate analysis, all variables at p–values of < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. A total of 892 participants recruited for the study. The prevalence of chronic energy deficiency was 17.6% (95%CI: 15.00, 20.20) among the study community. It was significantly associated with female sex (AOR: 1.58; 95%CI: 1.04, 2.41), age (AOR: 3.90; 95%CI: 1.85, 8.25), household food insecurity (AOR: 1.95; 95%CI: 1.16, 3.00), poor household wealth status (AOR: 1.77; 95%CI: 1.07, 2.94), loss of appetite due to illness (AOR: 2.93, 95%CI: 1.92, 4.48) and poor dietary diversity score (AOR: 5.51; 95%CI: 2.89, 10.52). The magnitude of chronic energy deficiency was high in the study area. It was significantly associated with female sex, age, poor dietary diversity score, loss of appetite due to illness, household food insecurity and poor wealth status. Therefore, there is a need to design and implement programs and strategies to improve nutritional status particularly focusing on female older population in improving dietary practices and food security. In addition, improving household economic and living standards is an essential measure to address the burden of CED among the older community.