Assessment of Practice and Factors associated with Sunlight Exposure of Infants among Mothers in Debre Berhan Town, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency is a common worldwide problem with its prevalence magnified in infants. Prevalence in infants is believed to range from 2.7% to 45% in different countries of the world. Appropriate sunlight exposure of skin is thought to be vital for the prevention of vitamin D deficiency. However, due to a dearth of study the practice of sunlight exposure is incompletely understood. Thus, assessing practice and factors affecting sunlight exposure of infants by mothers was relevant. OBJECTIVE: To assess practice level and factors associated with sunlight exposure of infants by mothers in Debre Berhan town, North Showa, Ethiopia, 2019. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to collect relevant data among 530 mothers with infants at selected kebeles in Debre Berhan town. A simple random sampling technique was used to select kebeles and systematic sampling was complemented to identify study participant. Data were collected with interview using a pre-tested structured and semi-structured questionnaire. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions were run to examine the association among dependent and independent variable. Significant association was declared at P value ≤0.05. RESULTS: All the mothers were interviewed and 65.7% of them had good practice in sunning of their infant. In multi-variable analysis, mothers who are housewives or government employees, have a maternal age of 33 and above, perceive that sunlight strengthen infant bones, perceive that sunlight makes their infants healthier, and who got information from health-care professionals were significantly associated with good practice in sunning of their infant. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Finding of this study indicated that 34.3% of participants have poor practice in sunning of infants. This is a pointer that sunlight exposure of infants still needs attention from the government and other concerned bodies.