| The contribution of dietary and non-dietary factors to socioeconomic inequality in childhood anemia in Ethiopia: a regression-based decomposition analysis |
| Authors: |
Shimels Hussien Mohammed, Tesfa Dejenie Habtewold, Fatima Muhammad, and Ahmad Esmaillzadeh |
| Source: |
BMC Research Notes , 12(1): 1-5; DOI: 10.1186/s13104-019-4691-4 |
| Topic(s): |
Anemia
Breastfeeding
Child feeding
Child health
Health equity
Inequality
|
| Country: |
Africa
Ethiopia
|
| Published: |
OCT 2019 |
| Abstract: |
Objective There is a scarcity of evidence on socioeconomic inequalities of childhood anemia in Ethiopia. We determined the magnitude of socioeconomic inequality in anemia and the contribution of dietary and non-dietary factors to the observed inequality, using a nationally representative data of 2902 children included in the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey. The data were collected following a multistage, stratified cluster sampling strategy. We followed the Blinder–Oaxaca regression-based approach to decompose the inequality and determine the relative contribution (%) of the dietary and non-dietary factors to the observed inequality. Result We found a significant pro-poor socioeconomic inequality in childhood anemia in Ethiopia. A third (~?33%) of the inequality was attributable to compositional differences in the dietary determinants of anemia (dietary diversity, meal frequency, and breastfeeding factors). Non-dietary factors like residence place, maternal education, and birth weight) jointly explained?~?36% of the inequality. Maternal education was the single most important factor, accounting alone for?~?28% the inequality, followed by rural residence (~?17%) and dietary diversity (~?16%). Efforts to narrow socioeconomic gaps and/or designing equity sensitive interventions by prioritizing the poor in health/nutrition interventions stands worth of consideration to reduce the burden of childhood anemia in Ethiopia and beyond. |
| Web: |
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13104-019-4691-4 |
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