Promising trends and influencing factors of complementary feeding practices in Côte d'Ivoire: An analysis of
Nan Dou1, Evaniya Shakya1, Raphia M Ngoutane1
1Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
Insights
Complementary feeding (CF) practices in Côte d'Ivoire show improvements but remain suboptimal. Factors like maternal education and household wealth influence child nutrition, necessitating multi-level interventions.
Area of Science:
- Public Health Nutrition
- Child Development
- Maternal and Child Health
Background:
- Poor complementary feeding (CF) is a significant barrier to early childhood growth and development.
- Optimal CF practices are crucial for meeting nutrient needs during the critical window of 6-23 months.
- Understanding trends and determinants of CF is vital for effective public health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine trends in complementary feeding (CF) practices among children aged 6-23 months in Côte d'Ivoire.
- To identify individual, household, and community-level factors influencing CF indicators.
- To inform the development of multi-level strategies for improving child nutrition.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of longitudinal data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS, 1994-2011) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS, 2000-2016).
- Assessment of World Health Organization-United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (WHO-UNICEF) CF indicators: timely introduction (INTRO), minimum meal frequency (MMF), minimum dietary diversity (MDD), and minimum acceptable diet (MAD).
- Application of multivariate logistic regression models to identify predictors of CF indicators using 2016 MICS data.
Main Results:
- The proportion of children aged 6-8 months receiving timely introduction of complementary foods increased by approximately 25 percentage points since 2006.
- Between 2011 and 2016, significant increases were observed in MMF (40.2% to 47.7%), MDD (11.3% to 26.0%), and MAD (4.6% to 12.5%).
- Factors positively associated with improved CF included older child age, urban residence, maternal education, maternal TV watching, and current breastfeeding; poorer household wealth was associated with lower odds of meeting CF indicators.
Conclusions:
- Complementary feeding practices in Côte d'Ivoire have shown improvement but remain below optimal levels.
- CF is influenced by a complex interplay of factors at individual, household, and community levels.
- Future interventions must adopt multi-level strategies targeting these determinants to enhance young children's diets.
Abstract:
Poor complementary feeding (CF) challenges early childhood growth. We examined the trends and influencing factors of CF practices among children aged 6-23 months in Côte d'Ivoire. Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS, 1994-2011) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS, 2000-2016), the trends and predictors of World Health Organization-United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund CF indicators including the timely introduction of complementary foods (INTRO), minimum meal frequency (MMF), minimum dietary diversity (MDD) and minimum acceptable diet (MAD) were determined. Using 2016 MICS data, we applied multivariate logistic regression models to identify factors associated with CF indicators. Between 1994 and 2016, the mean proportion of children aged 6-8 months achieving INTRO was 56.9% and increased by about 25% points since 2006. Over 2011-2016, the proportion of children aged 6-23 months meeting MMF, MDD and MAD increased from 40.2% to 47.7%, 11.3% to 26.0% and 4.6% to 12.5%, respectively. Older children and those from urban households had higher odds of meeting MDD and MAD. Maternal TV watching was associated with higher odds of meeting MDD. The secondary or higher education levels of mothers significantly predicted higher odds of meeting INTRO and MDD. Currently, breastfeeding was also positively associated with odds of meeting MMF and MAD. Children from poorer households had lower odds of meeting MMF, MDD and MAD. Despite the improvements, CF practices remain suboptimal in Côte d'Ivoire. Influencing factors associated with CF were distributed across individual, household and community levels, calling for future programmes and policies to implement multi-level strategies to improve young children's diet in Côte d'Ivoire.
More Related Videos
08:10Neuroimaging Field Methods Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy NIRS Neuroimaging to Study Global Child Development: Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
Published on: February 2, 2018
07:11Assessment of the Efficacy of An Osteopathic Treatment in Infants with Biomechanical Impairments to Suckling
Published on: February 5, 2019
Related Concept Videos
01:50Cross-Sectional Research
01:11Observational Studies
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One...
01:12Analysis of Population Pharmacokinetic Data
01:07Data Collection by Survey
01:08Data Collection by Observations
An astronomer viewing the motion and brightness of stars in the sky and recording the data is an example of observational data collection. A botanist recording...
01:26Longitudinal Studies