Barriers to Optimal Maternal and Child Feeding Practices in Pastoralist Areas of Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Maternal and child nutrition is critical for child health and survival. Appropriate feeding practices are of fundamental importance for health, nutrition, survival and development of infants and children. In pastoral areas of Ethiopia, barriers related to culture, knowledge, social norms, beliefs, behaviors, decision making in the household and burden of other responsibilities contribute to nutritional status of women and children to deteriorate. Policies and strategies are recommending assessment of barriers for designing programs and interventions to improve maternal and child nutrition practices. This study is aimed to assess barriers of optimal maternal and child feeding practices in Pastoralist areas of Somali region, Eastern Ethiopia. A qualitative community based research method was used involving 17 focus group discussions and 20 in-depth interviews with mothers, grandmothers, health professionals and religious leaders from three districts. Data from FGDs and interviews were transcribed and coded. The agreed upon codes were synthesized and grouped into exhaustive categories. The categories were then merged into themes representing the most common barriers on maternal and child feeding practice that emerged from the FGDs and interviews. We found that traditional beliefs, myths, culture custodian influence, low accessibility and availability of nutritional foods, pattern and burden of other responsibilities, poor knowledge and health seeking behavior, perceived milk insufficiency as main barriers for optimal maternal and child feeding practices. Barriers on optimal maternal and child feeding are very common in the study areas. More work needs to be done to strengthen community-based nutrition with strong social behavioral change communication with emphasis on age-specific counselling on maternal and child nutrition at health facilities, during antenatal and early postnatal visits in the study areas through different media channels, particularly, Somali Region TV and FMs to promote optimal nutrition in the region.