Hygienic feeding practices of home prepared complementary foods and associated factors in slum households with children of age 6-24 months: a case study in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Currently, developing countries are challenged with foodborne diseases especially children during the period of complementary feeding. This is getting worse in slum households which are characterized by poor environmental hygiene and a lack of basic facilities. To assess hygienic feeding practices and associated factors of home-prepared complementary foods in slum households with children of age 6-24 months in Addis Ababa. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 602 mother/caregiver-child pairs were included in this study. Three sub-cities were randomly selected and all woreda in each sub-city having slum households were included. Households with children of age from 6-24 months were included using systematic random sampling. A structured pretested questionnaire and observation checklist was used to collect data. Multivariable bivariate logistic regression analyses were done to identify factors associated with feeding practices. The magnitude of good hygienic feeding practice was 60.8% with [95%CI: (57- 65%)] and it has a positive association with fathers having secondary education and above [AOR=2.59, 95%CI: (1.06-6.68)], mothers/ caregivers having a variety of feeding utensil for their children [AOR=1.89, 95%CI:(1.23-2.91)], mothers/ caregivers that never give leftover food for their children [AOR=3.47, 95CI%:(1.86-6.49)], child feeding methods involving spoon [AOR=3.14, 95%CI: (1.22-8.06)] and having hand washing facility after toilet [AOR=2.14,95%CI:(1.26-3.64)] and it has a negative association with mothers/caregivers having children aged between 19-24 months [AOR=0.490, 95%CI:(0.293-0.82)] and mothers/ caregivers not in union with their husband [AOR= 0.534, 95%CI: (0.296-0.96)]. The practice of hygienic feeding of complementary food is poor. Therefore, interventions targeting those associated factors should be made in order to improve hygienic feeding and minimize the contamination of foods.