Table 2.
Determinants of exclusive breast-feeding and predominant breast-feeding in nine sub-Saharan African countries with high burden of diarrhoea mortality; data from the most recent and pooled Demographic and Health Survey data sets for 50 975 children under 24 months of age*
| Exclusive breast-feeding | Predominant breast-feeding | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | Unadjusted | Adjusted | Sample | Unadjusted | Adjusted | |||||||||||
| Size (n †) | % | OR | 95 % CI | P | OR | 95 % CI | P | Size (n †) | % | OR | 95 % CI | P | OR | 95 % CI | P | |
| Socio-economic | ||||||||||||||||
| Maternal education | ||||||||||||||||
| No education | 1780 | 27·9 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 3221 | 50·4 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Primary education | 1690 | 41·5 | 1·31 | 1·18, 1·45 | <0·001 | 1·18 | 1·06, 1·32 | 0·001 | 946 | 23·2 | 0·80 | 0·72, 0·91 | <0·001 | 0·87 | 0·77, 0·97 | <0·001 |
| Secondary education or above | 1107 | 38·3 | 1·58 | 1·40, 1·76 | <0·001 | 1·30 | 1·14, 1·47 | <0·001 | 721 | 24·9 | 0·54 | 0·48, 0·61 | <0·001 | 0·65 | 0·56, 0·74 | <0·001 |
| Maternal employment | ||||||||||||||||
| Not working | 2621 | 39·0 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 2642 | 39·3 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Working | 1955 | 34·0 | 0·85 | 0·78, 0·92 | <0·001 | 0·84 | 0·77, 0·92 | <0·001 | 2248 | 39·1 | 0·95 | 0·87, 1·04 | 0·281 | 0·96 | 0·87, 1·05 | 0·395 |
| Household wealth | ||||||||||||||||
| Poor | 1865 | 31·6 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 2349 | 39·8 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Middle | 1902 | 36·3 | 1·23 | 1·12, 1·34 | <0·001 | 1·01 | 1·00, 1·20 | 0·043 | 1894 | 36·1 | 0·78 | 0·71, 0·86 | <0·001 | 0·90 | 0·81, 0·99 | 0·043 |
| Rich | 810 | 36·6 | 1·27 | 1·13, 1·42 | <0·001 | 0·96 | 0·83, 1·11 | 0·632 | 647 | 29·3 | 0·61 | 0·54, 0·69 | <0·001 | 0·87 | 0·73, 1·02 | 0·106 |
| Health service | ||||||||||||||||
| ANC visits | ||||||||||||||||
| None | 743 | 28·7 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1077 | 41·7 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| 1–3 | 2028 | 35·6 | 1·40 | 1·23, 1·58 | <0·001 | 1·22 | 1·07, 1·38 | 0·003 | 2092 | 37·1 | 0·88 | 0·78, 0·99 | 0·037 | 1·05 | 0·92, 1·19 | 0·416 |
| ≥4 | 1806 | 35·2 | 1·58 | 1·40, 1·78 | <0·001 | 1·31 | 1·14, 1·49 | <0·001 | 1721 | 33·5 | 0·70 | 0·62, 0·78 | <0·001 | 0·95 | 0·84, 1·09 | 0·527 |
| Place of birth | ||||||||||||||||
| Home | 1900 | 30·0 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 2682 | 42·4 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| Health facility | 2677 | 38·1 | 1·42 | 1·30, 1·54 | <0·001 | 1·24 | 1·11, 1·39 | <0·001 | 2207 | 31·4 | 0·63 | 0·58, 0·69 | <0·001 | 0·77 | 0·68, 0·86 | <0·001 |
| PNC visits | ||||||||||||||||
| None | 2516 | 32·2 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 2652 | 33·9 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| 0–2 d | 1079 | 36·0 | 1·76 | 1·59, 1·95 | <0·001 | 1·22 | 1·10, 1·36 | <0·001 | 1272 | 42·4 | 0·77 | 0·70, 0·86 | <0·001 | 0·89 | 0·79, 1·00 | 0·056 |
| 3–42 d | 982 | 38·6 | 1·60 | 1·43, 1·78 | <0·001 | 1·02 | 1·02, 1·28 | 0·018 | 966 | 38·0 | 0·75 | 0·67, 0·85 | <0·001 | 0·69 | 0·60, 0·79 | <0·001 |
| Individual | ||||||||||||||||
| Maternal age | ||||||||||||||||
| 15–24 years | 1711 | 34·8 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1791 | 36·4 | 1·00 | Ref. | – | 1·00 | Ref. | – |
| 25–34 years | 2117 | 34·7 | 1·02 | 0·94, 1·11 | 0·532 | 1·09 | 1·00, 1·20 | 0·051 | 2245 | 36·8 | 0·88 | 0·81, 0·97 | 0·011 | 0·86 | 0·79, 0·95 | 0·003 |
| 35–49 years | 749 | 32·1 | 0·91 | 0·81, 10·2 | 0·129 | 1·01 | 0·89, 1·14 | 0·838 | 854 | 36·6 | 0·88 | 0·78, 1·00 | 0·050 | 0·83 | 0·73, 0·94 | 0·003 |
DRC, Demographic Republic of Congo; ANC, antenatal clinic; PNC, postnatal clinic; Ref., reference category.
Exclusive breast-feeding=infants 0–5 months of age who received breast milk as the only source of nourishment (but allows oral rehydration solution, drops, or syrups of vitamins and medicines); predominant breast-feeding=infants 0–5 months of age who received breast milk as the predominant source of nourishment (but allows water and water-based drinks fruit juice, ritual fluids, oral rehydration solution, syrups or drops of vitamins).
Multivariate models adjusted for the potential confounding factors of maternal marital status, place of residence, child’s age and gender.
Burkina Faso (2010), N 5710; DRC (2013), N 6797; Ethiopia (2013), N 4193; Kenya (2014), N 7024; Mali (2013), N 3802; Niger (2013), N 4930; Nigeria (2013), N 11 712; Tanzania (2015), N 3894; and Uganda (2010), N 2913.
Number of children aged 0–5 months who were exclusively or predominantly breast-fed.