Tewabe T, Belachew A, Miskir Y
Background: In Ethiopia, a country of diverse agro climatic conditions, children consume a monotonous diet. This unvaried feeding culture has consequences on their nutritional status. But the reason why they are monotonous is not clearly known. Thus, the purposes of this study were to determine the level of dietary diversity among school age children.
Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 422 randomly selected school age children from 16 April to 15 June 2018 in Mecha woreda, Amhara regional state. The data were collected using structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present the data. Variables at p<0.05 were taken as determinants for diet variety.
Results: The prevalence of dietary diversity; 86.4% had good dietary diversity. Most households (89.4%) were secured for food. The determinant factors of good dietary diversity were irrigation user [AOR= 2.49 (1.11, 5.60)] and access to information [AOR = 2.29 (1.15, 4.59)].
Conclusion: Prevalence of dietary diversity was generally good in the study area. Children from households that used irrigation and access to information had better dietary diversity. Increasing maternal and child awareness through medias and increasing household agricultural production of variety through irrigation were recommended.
