Abstract

Introduction: Because of the continued conflict and frequent displacements in Yemen, the risks to 0-23 months children, and their mother's feeding and caring practices are substantial. This study aimed to assess selected infant and young child feeding (IYCF) indicators among internally displaced mothers-infant/child pairs and related determinants in camps of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Aden governorate.

Methods: A community-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted during January and March 2023 in Aden’s IDP camps. The sampling method was two-stage cluster sampling and the Emergency Nutrition Assessment (ENA) software was used to select clusters by using the Probability Proportional to Size method (PPS). An interview questionnaire inquiring about socio-demographic characteristics of the family, child characteristics, mother’s IYCF perceptions, and feeding history was used to assess IYCF indicators. The data were processed and analyzed using SPSS-25 and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) guide for assessing IYCF indicators. IYCF indicators were the outcome measures with a cutoff point of <0.05 significant level (p).

Results: The study included 301 children 0-23 months having the following percentages: 56.8% early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF), 17.6% exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), 13.8% minimum acceptable diet (MAD), and 29.2% for bottle feeding (BoF). Children of mothers with cesarean sections were less likely to have EIBF compared to children of mothers with normal deliveries (AOR=0.081;95% CI:0.029-0.223). Additionally, infants of non-educated mothers were nearly ten times more likely to have EBF (AOR=10.449;95%CI:1.873-58.282) and mothers with cesarean sections were less likely to practice EBF compared to mothers with normal deliveries (AOR=0.08;95%CI:0.007-0.951). Furthermore, children of <31250 per capita family income were less likely to have MAD than higher family income (AOR=0.356; 95%CI:0.129-0.979), children of mothers who had no antenatal care (ANC) visits were less likely to have MAD (AOR=0.218;95% CI:0.089–0.536), children having non-educated fathers had nearly two times the likelihood of BoF compared to children of educated fathers (AOR=2.267;95% CI:1.201-4.277) and children of ≤12 months were less likely to have BoF (AOR=0.406; 95%CI:0.212-0.777). Finally, mothers who used non-bottled water for preparing artificial milk were less likely to practice BoF (AOR=0.976;95%CI:0.969-0.982).

Conclusion: The reported IYCF indicators are lower compared to the present WHO recommendations for IYCF in an emergency except for the EIBF indicator. Governmental and nongovernmental organizations need to urgently strengthen humanitarian assistance and food security interventions and IYCF education.

Keywords: Infant and Young Child feeding Indicators, Emergency, Breastfeeding, Complementary Feeding, Internally Displaced People, Yemen

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