Prevalence of Chronic Energy Malnutrition and Maternal Health Service Utilizations among Lactating Mothers in Adama District, Oromia Region, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: High prevalence of malnutrition among lactating mothers is very common in Sub-Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. Determining nutritional statuses among lactating mothers helps to provide information and guides to design proper interventions program. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess maternal health service utilizations and nutritional statuses among lactating mother in Adama district from January to March 2016. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using quantitative data collection method. Simple Random Sampling was used to select a sample of 662 lactating mothers in the district. The collected data was entered into SPSS version 20. Results: Then mean (+SD) BMI of respondents was 20.4 (+2.22 SD) Kg/m2. One hundred twenty-nine (19.5%) of respondents scoring less than <18.5 Kg/m2 and considered to have Chronic Energy Malnutrition (underweight). Six hundred twenty-one (93.8%) of the study participants attended antenatal care during their index pregnancy and 90.5% have got PNC services from health workers. Conclusion and recommendations: A significant proportion (19.5%) of respondents were exposed to under nutritional status and suffered from underweight. However, the vast majority have used ANC (93.8%) and PNC (90.5%) utilization from health professionals. Emphasis should be given to promote and enhance the nutrition programs among the lactating mothers.