The effect of maternal employment on nutritional status of 6-59 month old children in Arekit town city, Gurage zone Ethiopia 2022: comparative cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Children under the age of five account for more than half of all deaths in the developing countries including Ethiopia. Malnutrition and infections are the most common cause of child death. The advancement of maternal employment assumed to have a particularly significant link to nutritional well-being of under 5 children. . Increased income tends to correlate to improved family wellbeing and, as a result, increased child food consumption and nutritional status. There is an argument that mother's income or maternal job has a direct impact on childcare, children's nutritional status, and the mother herself Such argument, however, has not been substantiated by studies from Ethiopia. Objective: To assess the effect of maternal employment on nutritional status of 6-59 month old children in Arekit town, Gurage zone Ethiopia 2022 Methods: community based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from April 30 – May 07. six of 12 kebeles in arekit town was used for data collection . Data was collected using a interviewer administered structured questionnaire which was pretested on another kebele. The data was entered using EpiData 3.1, and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 22), and WHO anthro 3.2.2. bivariate and multivariable analysis was done taking P value 0.25 and 0.05 respectively to determine the association between maternal employment, and other variables with nutritional status of under five children. Result: The prevalence of malnutrition (wasting, stunting and underweight) among children of employed and unemployed mothers was found to be 10%, 20.8% and 7.0 %, respectively. Wasting was found to be s associated with being, family and home. Stunting appeared to be influenced more by maternal education status (unable to read and write) and age of index child from 18-23 month and 24-35 month. Underweight was found to be associated with being unemployed and duration of breast up to 10-12 month. Conclusion: Maternal employment has significant positive effect on nutritional status of children who are 6-59 month old in arekit town. Thus it is important aspect of intervention for prevention or improvement of childhood malnutrition