Breastfeeding-Related Practices in Rural Ethiopia: Colostrum Avoidance.

The practices of colostrum avoidance and prelacteal feeding, which are common in many developing countries, including Ethiopia, are firmly rooted in ancient traditions. The main objective of this work is to identify the prevalence of colostrum avoidance and study its associated factors among mothers of children aged less than 2 years old in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study on the practice of colostrum avoidance/prelacteal feeding was conducted in a rural community with 114 mothers of children under 2 years old. Our results reflected that colostrum avoidance and prelacteal feeding were practiced by 56.1% of mothers. The percentage of women who started breastfeeding in the first hour after birth, as recommended by the WHO, was 2.6%. Of the women who practiced colostrum avoidance, 67.2% gave birth at home, and 65.6% were attended by relatives. The likelihood of avoiding colostrum increases in mothers who have a lower educational level, who did not receive health care at the time of delivery, who think that colostrum is dirty and dangerous and who did not receive information about breastfeeding from healthcare professionals. The knowledge emanating from this work may be useful in designing new breastfeeding education programs and/or interventions in Ethiopia and other developing countries.

Assessment of Malnutrition among Children Presenting in a Nutrition Center in Gimbichu, Ethiopia.

Nowadays, Ethiopia has several problems affecting children below 5 years of age, resulting in low life expectancies. Our group carried out a study to calculate the presence of malnutrition as wasting, stunting underweight, and BMI-for-age in children presenting in a nutrition center in a rural Ethiopian village in the Oromia region according to WHO guidelines. Our results demonstrated that they had moderate chronic malnutrition or stunting from 1 to 2 years of age, affecting their life, their parents, their community/household, and their country. In our viewpoint, the solution for this situation will require a global focus on several levels, including individual, family, community, and country, the last being with the help of new health policies focused on short-, medium-, and long-term strategies with multi- and interdisciplinary approaches.