Nutritional knowledge, nutritional status and associated factors among pregnant adolescents in the West Arsi Zone, central Ethiopia.

When pregnancy occur among teenagers; there is a competition for nutrients between the still-growing adolescent mother and her fetus. Pregnant adolescents' nutrition issues are not addressed well and changes are too slow in Ethiopia. This study aimed to study, nutrition knowledge, nutritional status and associated factors among pregnant adolescents in West Arsi , central Ethiopia. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 426 pregnant adolescents between January 1 and January 25, 2023. Data were collected using kobo collect and analyzed using SPSS version 25. We performed linear regression to identify independent predictors of nutritional status and multivariable logistic regression analyses to identify nutritional knowledge. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals were estimated to show the strength of the association. Magnitude of good nutrition knowledge was 23.7%, 95% CI (21.4-25.3%), and the odds of having good nutrition knowledge was 7.5 times higher among participants whose education level was above college compared with illiterate participants [(AOR = 7.5, 95% CI = (5.27-9.38)],the odds of having good nutrition knowledge was 8 times higher among adolescent who had ANC visits, [(AOR = 8, 95% CI = (3.63-13.85)], and the odds of having good nutrition knowledge was 5 times higher among adolescents who received nutrition education [(AOR = 5, 95% CI = (3.67- 13.53)]. Receiving nutrition education (ß = 0.25, P = 0.002) and good nutrition knowledge (ß = 0.08, P < 0.001) were positively associated with nutritional status; however, food insecurity (ß = - 0.93, P < 0.001) was negatively associated with nutritional status. The nutrition knowledge of pregnant adolescents was suboptimal; educational status, ANC visits and nutrition education were associated with good nutrition knowledge, whereas food insecurity, low nutrition knowledge, and not receiving nutrition education were predictors of poor nutritional status. Nutritional education interventions, increasing utilization of ANC, and interventions for improving food security are strongly recommended.

Women's Joint Decision on Contraceptive Use in Gedeo Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Community Based Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.

A community based comparative cross-sectional study design was employed to assess the mutual consent of women about family planning use in urban and rural villages of Gedeo zone. Two-thirds (67.4%) of women made joint decision on contraceptive use, varying between urban (70.9%) and rural (63.4%) settings. This difference was statistically significant where women in urban setup had a 41% (AOR, 1.41; 95% CI (1.15, 2.01) added chance of making joint decision than the rural counterpart. In both settings, attitude towards contraceptive method was an independent predictor of joint contraceptive decision (AOR = 2.85) in urban and (AOR = 2.81) rural women. Contrarily, different factors were found to be associated with joint contraceptive decision in either setup. In urban, having better knowledge about contraceptive methods (AOR = 2.9) and having lower age difference (AOR = 2.2) were found to be strong predictors of joint decision on contraceptive use, while having too many children (AOR = 2.2) and paternal support (AOR = 7.1) in rural setups. Lower level of joint decision making on contraceptive use was reported in both setups. Factors associated with joint decision varied between the two setups, except for attitude towards contraceptive methods. Future family planning program should address sociocultural, knowledge and attitude factors.