Adequate vitamin A rich food consumption and associated factors among lactating mothers visiting child immunization and post-natal clinic at health institutions in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Vitamin A deficiency is highly prevalent in low-income countries and is a major public health problem worldwide. Lactating mothers are the most vulnerable population group to vitamin A deficiency. Despite this, there is limited study on vitamin A-rich food consumption by lactating mothers in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess adequate vitamin A rich food consumption and associated factors among lactating mothers visiting child immunization and postnatal care centers in health institutions of Gondar Town. METHODS: An Institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed at a health institution in Gondar Town from February to March 2019, and included 631 study participants. Simple random sampling followed by a systematic sampling technique was used to select participants. The data were collected using the Helen Keller International Food Frequency Questionnaire, entered using Epi-Info 7 statistical software and exported to STATA version 14 for analysis. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with the outcome variable and variables with p-value <0.05 were considered as statistically significant. RESULT: A total of 624 lactating mothers participated in the study giving a response rate of 98.89%. The study shows adequate consumption of vitamin A-rich food was 38.94% (95% CI: 35%- 43%). Predictors such as attending college diploma and above (AOR = 2.26, 95% CI; 1.02–4.99), having household family size ≤ 3 (AOR = 4.04, 95% CI; 1.60–10.17), being in higher economic class (AOR = 1.93, 95% CI; 1.18–3.14), having dietary diversity score of ≥ 5 (AOR = 1.59, 95% CI; 1.09–2.32) and meal frequency of ≥ 4 (AOR = 1.64, 95% CI; 1.09–2.32) were statistically significant. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The majority of respondents had inadequate consumption of foods rich in vitamin A. Educational status, family size, wealth index, dietary diversity, and meal frequency were found to be factors that affect adequate consumption of vitamin A-rich foods. Encouraging and educating lactating mothers to consume foods rich in vitamin A is crucial.