Abstract
Background
In South Asia, one in two children under the age of five are stunted or wasted due to malnutrition, which affects one in three children globally. There are close linkages between maternal health care services and child feeding practices which needs to be investigated.
Materials and Method
The present study analyzed two rounds of Demographic Health Surveys cross-sectional data carried out between year 2005 and 2016 in three selected South Asian countries viz. India, Nepal, and Bangladesh respectively. This study is based on children under 5 years of age which are nested within mothers aged 15–49 years. Inferential statistical analysis like Chi-square was used to test the association, and regression model was used to analyze the effect of mother’s Maternal and Child Health care services utilization on the child’s feeding score after controlling for socio-economic and demographic factors. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of utilization of maternal care services on child feeding practices in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
Results
Our result shows that mother's secondary or higher level of education, more than four-antenatal care visits, and deliverying in a health facility was associated with a higher chance of child feeding practices. Multivariate linear regression revealed that education, antenatal care visits, and postnatal care visits had positive and significant effect on child feeding, while mothers who were 15–19 years of age were less likely to feed child. The results from this analysis imply that there are various regional and national influences on the determination of mothers’ practices on child feeding. Furthermore, there are other factors that indicate that mother’s practices are influenced by situational and time factors.
Conclusion
Overall, with multiple maternal and child health care contacts with the health system, there is an opportunity to promote child feeding practices. The study results are critical and emphasises the need for making strategies and policies for better nutritional outcome and child feeding practices. Disadvantaged women in terms of education, antenatal care, birth at a health institution, and postnatal visits must be targeted to improve child feeding practices.
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Availability of Data and Materials
The study uses a secondary source of data that is freely available in the public domain through: https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm
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The first author conducted the study as part of his PhD thesis. The second author mentored and the third and fourth authors provided guidance to the first author in writing this paper, and did review and editing. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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This study uses the secondary data which is available at request in the public domain on the measure DHS website and a prior consent was taken from the respondents before their interviews. The Institutional Review Board of ICF International and the relevant human subject committees in each country approved the data collection procedures. The protocol was also reviewed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Brajesh, Shekhar, C., Ranjan, M. et al. The Role of Maternal Care Services on Feeding Practices Among Under Five Children in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Glob Soc Welf 11, 61–76 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-023-00318-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-023-00318-2