TABLE 4.
Sociodemographic characteristics of the mothers/caregivers and the children in a study of inadequate minimum dietary diversity intake and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in sub-Saharan Africa: based on 2010–2020 DHS.
| Variables | Categories | Inadequate dietary diversity frequency (n = 77,887) |
Total frequency (%) | |
| Yes (76.53 %) | No (23.47%) | |||
| Sociodemographic characteristics and health service utilization of the mothers | ||||
| Age of women (years) | 15–19 | 5,704 (78.61) | 1,552 (21.39) | 7,256 (9.32) |
| 20–35 | 44,626 (75.62) | 14,390 (24.38) | 59,016 (75.77) | |
| 36–49 | 8,807 (75.82) | 2,808 (24.18) | 11,616 (14.91) | |
| Sex of household head | Male | 29,836 (75.91) | 9,467 (24.09) | 39,303 (50.46) |
| Female | 29,301 (75.94) | 9,283 (24.06) | 38,584 (49.54) | |
| Educational attainment of women |
No education | 24,586 (83.65) | 4,804 (16.35) | 29,391 (37.73) |
| Primary education | 20,570 (77.17) | 6,084 (22.83) | 26,654 (34.22) | |
| Secondary and above | 13,980 (64.01) | 7,862 (35.99) | 21,843 (28.04) | |
| Occupation of women | Worked | 17,203 (77.96) | 4,864 (22.04) | 22,067 (29.48) |
| Not working | 39,554 (74.94) | 13,227 (25.06) | 52,780 (70.52) | |
| Marital status of the mother | Married | 41,714 (76.1) | 13,104 (23.9) | 54,818 (70.38) |
| Not married | 17,423 (75.52) | 5,646 (24.48) | 23,069 (29.62) | |
| House hold family size | 1–4 | 16,359 (74.67) | 5,550 (25.33) | 21,909 (28.13) |
| 5–10 | 35,285 (76.01) | 11,136 (23.99) | 46,421 (59.6) | |
| ≥11 | 7,493 (78.4) | 2,065 (21.6) | 9,557 (12.27) | |
| Media exposure | No | 24,284 (84.04) | 4,611 (15.96) | 28,895 (37.14) |
| Yes | 34,772 (71.11) | 14,125 (28.89) | 48,898 (62.86) | |
| Wealth index | Poorest | 15,015 (84.25) | 2,808 (15.75) | 17,823 (22.88) |
| Poorer | 13,871 (81.45) | 3,159 (18.55) | 17,030 (21.86) | |
| Middle | 12,286 (77.55) | 3,557 (22.45) | 15,843 (20.34) | |
| Richer | 10,393 (71.67) | 4,108 (28.33) | 14,501 (18.62) | |
| Richest | 7,571 (59.66) | 5,118 (40.34) | 12,689 (16.29) | |
| Unplanned pregnancy | No | 42,110 (76.17) | 13,178 (23.83) | 55,288 (71) |
| Yes | 17,015 (75.34) | 5,570 (24.66) | 22,585 (29.00) | |
| Place of delivery | Home delivery | 21,168 (82.38) | 4,528 (17.62) | 25,696 (32.99) |
| Health facilities | 37,967 (72.75) | 14,222 (27.25) | 52,189 (67.01) | |
| ANC visits | No ANC | 9,697 (82.48) | 2,059 (17.52) | 11,757 (15.09) |
| At least one ANC | 49,440 (74.76) | 16,691 (25.24) | 66,131 (84.91) | |
| Child related characteristics | ||||
| Sex of child |
Male | 29,836 (75.91) | 9,467 (24.09) | 39,303 (50.46) |
| Female | 29,301 (75.94) | 9,283 (24.06) | 38,584 (49.54) | |
| Age of child | 6–8 months | 12,440 (88.51) | 1,614 (11.49) | 14,055 (18.05) |
| 9–11 months | 10,386 (79.83) | 2,624 (20.17) | 13,010 (16.70) | |
| 12–23 months | 36,310 (71.45) | 14,512 (28.55) | 50,823 (65.25) | |
| Birth order | <three | 32,662 (73.71) | 11,650 (26.29) | 44,313 (56.89) |
| >three | 26,475 (78.85) | 7,100 (21.15) | 33,575 (43.11) | |
| Plurality | Single | 57,372 (75.99) | 18,132 (24.01) | 75,505 (96.94) |
| Multiple | 1,764 (74.06) | 618 (25.94) | 2,382 (3.06) | |
| Breast feeding status | Not breastfed | 9,948 (62.64) | 5,933 (37.36) | 15,881 (20.39) |
| breastfed | 49,189 (79.33) | 12,818 (20.67) | 62,006 (79.61) | |
| Community level variables | ||||
| Residence | Urban | 15,949 (65.42) | 8,431 (34.58) | 24,380 (31.3) |
| Rural | 43,188 (80.71) | 10,320 (19.29) | 53,507 (68.7) | |
|
Region in SSA |
Central Africa | 10,769 (77.01) | 3,215 (22.99) | 13,984 (17.95) |
| East Africa | 23,124 (74.18) | 8,051 (25.82) | 31,175 (40.03) | |
| West Africa | 24,038 (77.94) | 6,805 (22.06) | 30,843 (39.6) | |
| South Africa | 1,205 (63.94) | 680 (36.06) | 1,885 (2.42) | |
| Country income level | Lower | 40,038 (78.66) | 10,865 (21.34) | 50,903 (65.36) |
| Lower middle | 15,156 (72.07) | 5,873 (27.93) | 21,029 (27) | |
| Upper middle | 3,943 (66.21) | 2,012 (33.79) | 5,955 (7.64) | |
| Survey year |
2010–2012 | 9,871 (80.31) | 2,421 (19.69) | 12,292 (15.78) |
| 2013–2015 | 19,606 (74.94) | 6,555 (25.06) | 26,161 (33.59) | |
| 2015–2019 | 29,660 (75.21) | 9,775 (24.79) | 39,434 (50.63) | |
| Community media exposure | Low | 30,253 (79.06) | 8,015 (20.94) | 38,267 (49.13) |
| High | 28,884 (72.9) | 10,736 (27.1) | 39,620 (50.87) | |
| Community level women’s education | Low | 30,310 (79.15) | 7,983 (20.85) | 38,293 (49.16) |
| High | 28,826 (72.8) | 10,768 (27.2) | 39,594 (50.84) | |