Less than one-fifth of the mothers practised exclusive breastfeeding in the emerging regions of Ethiopia: a multilevel analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey

BACKGROUND: The burden of low coverage of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) has a significant impact on the health of a newborn and also on the family and social economy in the long term. Even though the prevalence of EBF practices in Ethiopia is low, the practices in the pastoral communities, in particular, are significantly low and affected by individual and community-level factors. Besides, its adverse outcomes are mostly unrecognised. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the individual and community-level factors of low coverage of EBF practices in the emerging regions of Ethiopia. METHODS: In this analysis, data from 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) were used. A two-stage stratified sampling technique was used to identify 1406 children aged 0 to 23 months in the emerging regions of Ethiopia. A multilevel mixed-effect binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the individual and community level factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding practices. In the final model, variables with a p-value of < 0.05 and Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were found to be statistically significant factors that affect exclusive breastfeeding practices. RESULTS: Overall, 17.6% (95% CI: 15.6–19.6) of the children aged 0 to 23 months have received exclusive breastfeeding. Employed mothers (AOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.21–0.53), richer household wealth status (AOR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.16–0.96), mothers undecided to have more children (AOR: 2.29, 95% CI: 1.21–4.29), a child with a history of diarrhoea (AOR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.16–0.61) were the individual-level factors, whereas Benishangul region (AOR: 2.63, 95% CI: 1.44–4.82) was the community-level factors associated with the exclusive breastfeeding practices. CONCLUSIONS: Less than one-fifth of the mothers have practised exclusive breastfeeding in the emerging regions of Ethiopia. The individual-level factors such as mother’s employment status, household wealth status, desire for more children, presence of diarrhoea and community-level factors such as region have contributed to the low coverage of exclusive breastfeeding. Therefore, the federal and regional health bureaus and other implementers should emphasise to those emerging regions by creating awareness and strengthening the existing community-based health extension program to enhance exclusive breastfeeding practices.