Abstract:
Background: Dietary diversity is essential for household welfare as well as for accomplishing
other developmental activities. Poor Household Dietary Diversity is public health problem
among poor populations in the developing countries throughout the world. Low household
dietary diversity and low-quality monotonous diets often face other challenges related to food
insecurity including poor health and a decline in productivity which makes vicious cycle
between undernutrition and decreased productivity. However, there is paucity of information on
household dietary diversity practice and associated factors among rural residents in low-income
countries. There is also lack of study done in the Gedebano Gutazer Welene District
Objective: The objective of the study is to assess the prevalence of household dietary diversity
practice and associated factors among rural residents of Gedebano Gutazer Welene District,
South Nation Nationality People Region, Ethiopia, from March 1 to April 1, 2019
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was used. Five Hundred fifty four
households were selected randomly to be involved. A structured interviewer-administered
questionnaire was used to collect the data from rural resident who preapare food for the family.
Bivarable logistic regression analyses were used to see the association between dependent and
each independent variable. Multivariable Logistic regression analysis was used to control for all
possible confounders and identify factors independently associated with household dietary
diversity. Odds ratio along with 95%confidence interval was used to measure the strength of the
association. Level of statistical significance was declrared at p-value less than 0.05.
Result: The prevalence of adequate household dietary diversity was 28.3 %( 95% CI: 24.4%-
32.1%). Having off-farm employment [(AOR=1.94, 95% CL: (1.3, 2.89)], having access to
credit [(AOR=1.74, 95% CI: (1.15-2.63)], havinghome garden [(AOR=2.1, 95% CI: (1.3-3.42)]
and having good knowledge on nutrition [(AOR=1.73, 95% CI: (1.14-2.63)]were significantly
associated with the adequate household dietary diversity
Conclusion: The prevalence of adequate household dietary diversity was low in the study area.
However, it was more common among participants having off-farm employment, access to
credit, home gardening practice and good knowledge of nutrition Therefore, efforts should
bemade to improve off-farm employment opportunitiest, access to credit, nutrition knowledge,
and home gardenig practice to increase household dietary diversity.
