Growth Monitoring and Promotion Service Utilisation and Associated Factors among Children in Afar Region, Northeast Ethiopia
Semhal Kiros,
Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim and
Kedir Y. Ahmed ()
Additional contact information
Semhal Kiros: Afar Regional Health Office, Logiya Primary Hospital, Semera P.O. Box 28, Ethiopia
Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim: Department of Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Science, Samara University, Semera P.O. Box 132, Ethiopia
Kedir Y. Ahmed: Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia
IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 10, 1-13
Abstract:
The use of growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) services in the first two years of life can facilitate the early identification of common childhood health issues such as malnutrition and infections. It also creates an opportunity to promote education and nutritional counselling. This study is the first to investigate the use of GMP and its influencing factors among mothers in Ethiopia’s pastoralist regions, including the Afar National and Regional State, where childhood malnutrition is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Between May and June 2021, a cross-sectional study was conducted within the Semera-Logia city administration. The study used a random sampling technique to select 396 children under two, and data were gathered using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyse the influence of explanatory variables, which included socio-demographic, health service, and health literacy factors, on the utilisation of GMP services. The overall utilisation of GMP services was 15.9% (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 12.0%, 19.5%). Children whose fathers had college or higher education were more likely to utilise GMP services (adjusted odd ratios [AOR] = 7.75; 95% CI: 3.01, 19.99), whereas children living in households with more children were less likely to utilise GMP services (AOR = 0.11; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.28 for households with 3–4 children and AOR = 0.23; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.67 for households with 4+ children). Children who received postnatal care had higher odds of GMP service use (AOR = 8.09; 95% CI: 3.19, 20.50). GMP services are not being fully utilised to decrease infant and child morbidity and mortality caused by malnutrition in Ethiopia. We recommend strengthening GMP services in Ethiopia and taking targeted action to address the low attainment of parental education and poor postnatal care utilisation. Public health initiatives such as the implementation of mobile health (mHealth) approaches and education of mothers by female community healthcare workers on the significance of GMP services could be effective in increasing GMP service utilisation.
Keywords: growth monitoring; child health service utilisation; pastoral community; Ethiopia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/10/5807/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/10/5807/ (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:10:p:5807-:d:1146061
Access Statistics for this article
IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu
More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().