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Correlates of dietary diversification among children aged 6-23 months in Afikepo programme districts

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 20 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Booklet

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) In Malawi, close to one million children aged less than five years are suffering from stunting which is an indicator of chronic malnutrition. Stunting manifests strongly during the first 1 000 days, that is, from conception to the age of two years. This implies that nutrition interventions put in place within the first 1 000 days are likely to have significant impact on the reduction of stunting. This article focuses on the correlates of dietary diversity among children 6 to 23 months. Minimum dietary diversity is defined as the proportion of children 6 to 23 months consuming of four or more food groups from the seven food groups. This article further utilizes baseline data collected in ten districts between 26th October and 18th December 2018. The baseline survey used a cross-sectional multi-stage cluster sampling design. A total of 3 667 children aged 6 to 23 months were assessed from 9 505 households sampled across the 10 districts. The proportion of children 6 to 23 months meeting the minimum dietary diversity was estimated as 29.7% [95% CI: 28.2-31.2]. The results further indicate that children aged 9 to 11 months were nearly 5 times likely to meet the minimum dietary diversity compared with children 6 to 8 months (Odds Ratio: 4.85 [95% CI: 3.50 – 6.73]). Other correlates significantly associated with improved dietary diversification included region, availability of fruit trees and vegetable gardens at the homestead.

Language English

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