Dietary diversity feeding practice and its associated factors among children age 6–23 months in Ethiopia from 2011 up to 2018: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Globally Less than one fourth of children aged 6–23 months get the recommended minimum dietary diversity feeding practice. Despite this issue is common in Ethiopia, fragmented and inconsistent findings were found. Therefore the main objective of this meta-analysis was to estimate the pooled prevalence of dietary diversity feeding practice and to identify its associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline was followed. Articles were systematically searched through PubMed, Google scholar, Google, Hinari and Cochrane library. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale adapted for cross-sectional studies quality assessment tool was used to assess the quality of each study. A total of 14 studies were extracted and analyzed using STATA 14. Random effect model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence; whereas subgroup analysis and meta-regression was performed to identify the probable source of heterogeneity. Both egger’s and begg’s test were used to check publication bias. Furthermore, the effect between associated factor variables, and dietary diversity feeding practices were examined. RESULTS: A total of 154 studies were retrieved and 14 studies were included in meta-analysis. The Meta analysis result showed that the pooled prevalence of dietary feeding practice among children age 6–23 months in Ethiopia was 23.25% with considerable heterogeneity (I(2) = 98.8, p = 0.00). In the subgroup analysis, the lowest prevalence was observed in Amhara region (12.58%). Home delivery OR: 0.63, antenatal care follow up OR: 1.80, postnatal care visit OR: 2.61, mothers decision making status OR: 1.65, mothers media exposure status OR: 2.79 and being urban residence OR: 2.18 (1.26, 3.77) were significant factors for minimum dietary diversity feeding practice in Ethiopia. CONCLUSIONS: The pooled prevalence of dietary diversity feeding practice among children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia was low. Place of delivery, post natal care, antenatal care service, mothers decision making status, mothers media exposure status and being urban residence were found to be the significant factors.