Effect of maternal employment on the nutritional status of infants and children 6 to 23 months of age in Kolfe-Keraniyo Sub-city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Introduction: As in many developing countries, malnutrition is one of the most important health problems among infants and young children in Ethiopia. Inadequate and/or inappropriate dietary intake and infectious diseases are the immediate/direct causes. This is in turn related to several socio-economic, demographic, child-care, and environmental factors. Objectives: To determine the effect of maternal employment on the nutritional status of infants and children 6-23 months-old age in Kolfe-keraniyo sub-city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2019. Methods: Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 1 to 30 in Kolfe-keraniyo sub-city selected four health centers. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 207 employed and 210 unemployed mothers. A structured questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data from the participants. Anthropometric measurements were taken from infants and young children. A 24-hours recall was used to collect dietary information on what the children had eaten for the 24-hours preceding the interview. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS software version 24. Variables that had P-value of 0.2 or less on binary logistic regression were entered into multiple logistic regression to assess the association between dependent and independent variables and to control the effect of cofounders.  P-value of ≤0.05 was taken as statistically significant.  Result: In this study, the prevalence of stunting, under-weight, and low weight for height in children of employed mothers were 6.8%, 7.2%, and 5.8% whereas in the children of unemployed mothers were 12.9%, 13.8%, and 8.1%, respectively. There was no statistically significant association between the maternal employment and nutritional status of their children. However, children from family size of four and above [AOR 3.45, 95%CI: (1.58, 7.52)] and, children who were not met minimum dietary diversity score [AOR 16.84, 95%CI: (5, 56.75)] were more likely to be stunted. Conclusion: Family size, dietary diversity scores and vaccination status of children were prominent factors related to child malnutrition. Therefore, improve dietary diversity score of children by promoting good child feeding practices during postnatal follow up, educating mothers about family planning and importance of children vaccination are the best options to reduce malnutrition.