Dietary Diversity and its Associated Factors among Children Aged 6-59 Months in Madhyapur Thimi Municipality, Nepal

Abstract

Background: Minimum dietary diversity for children (MDD-C) is a benchmark developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess diet diversity in infants and young children worldwide. The lack of such diet diversity among growing children, which often leads to malnutrition, has been considered a significant public health concern in Nepal. This study is to assess the dietary diversity and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months in wards 2 and 3 of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out by measuring the research variables in 2023 among the residents of wards number 2 (Jatigaal) and 3 (Kaushaltar) of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality. The survey was created and administered by the researchers themselves. The sample size of the study was 385. The survey includes a structured questionnaire to assess dietary diversity and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months. The association between the factors was measured by using Fisher’s Exact test.

Results: 73.5% of the study population fulfilled the minimum requirement of dietary diversity. Factors such as the mother’s educational status (p=0.002), mother’s ethnicity (p=0.015), monthly expenditure on food (p=0.001), awareness of communicable diseases (p=0.001), feeding times a day (p=0.001), personal hygiene practices status (p=0.004), and awareness of junk foods (p=0.001) showed a significant association with MDD-C.

Conclusion: Increasing mothers’ awareness about junk food, communicable diseases, and the importance of their hygiene practices via formal or informal education campaigns is necessary to increase the proportion of children meeting the MDD-C benchmark and prevent malnutrition.