Factors associated with dietary diversity in mothers and their 6- to 23-month-old children in conflict areas of Northeast Myanmar

Abstract

This analytical study used the existing cross-sectional data collected by a local non-government organization (LNGO) namely Karuna Mission Social Solidarity (KMSS) or Caritas Myanmar. This study aimed to determine the relationship between minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) in mothers and dietary diversity scores for infant and young child feeding (DDS-IYCF) in their 6 - to 23 -month-old children, and to identify factors associated with these scores in conflict areas of northeast Myanmar. The study population were mothers (n= 461) and their 6 - to 23 -month-old children (n= 400) in these areas, who were involved in the baseline assessment of KMSS in June 2020. After excluding records with incomplete data, the final sample included in this analysis included (n= 235) mother-child pairs (mothers and their 6 - to 23 -month-old children). Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and Binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that 74.5 % of mothers and 39.6 % of their children achieved minimum dietary diversity scores. This study found that the satisfactory MDD-W scores of mothers (aOR = 3.767, 95 % CI = 1.504 - 9.438, p = 0.005) was strongly related to the DDS-IYCF of their children 6 - 23 months old. Also, it showed that the knowledge level of mothers about nutrition (aOR = 10.969, 95 % CI = 2.768 - 43.465, p = 0.001) was the important predictor for the MDD-W scores of mothers, and DDS-IYCF was significantly associated with the factors of knowledge level of mothers about nutrition (aOR = 3.740, 95 % CI = 1.727 - 8.097, p = 0.001), age of the child (aOR = 22.963, 95 % CI = 6.006 – 87.794, p = < 0.001), having enough food to eat within the last 7 days (aOR = 4.823, 95 % CI = 1.571 – 14.809, p = 0.006), and household water sources (aOR = 9.228, 95 % CI = 2.603 – 32.712, p = 0.001). Implication of Thematic Paper: The implications of this study are as follows: the findings suggested the promotion of the knowledge level of mothers with younger children, especially for the introduction of complementary feeding according to age with dietary diversity; the strengthening of health workers’ knowledge and skills in delivering nutrition-based health information to mothers; and conducting demonstrations of the preparation of complementary food, including recommended home fluids for the children with diarrhea.