INFANT AND YOUNG CHILD FEEDING PRACTICES AMONG UNDER TWO YEARS CHILDREN IN THREE RURAL SOUTHERN YEMENI GOVERNORATES: A COMMUNITY BASED PRE – POST EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION STUDY

Purpose: The Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) was developed to revitalize world attention to the impact of feeding practices on the nutritional status, growth and development, health, and survival of infants and young children. In Yemen, IYCF indicators are not extensively investigated. The objective of this paper is to compare IYCF indicators before and after education intervention project in five rural southern Yemeni districts. Materials and Methods: House-to-house community-based cross-sectional surveys were conducted before (May–July 2013) and after education project implementation (March–April 2017) in five targeted districts. The World Health Organization 30 by 30 two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to approach orally consented mothers of under 2 years children using a pretested structured questionnaire based on Generic Feeding Questionnaire for children 0-23 months. Statistical analysis was done to compare nine IYCF indicators with chi square test. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Results: There were 526 respondents in the pre-intervention and 607 in the post-intervention phases. All IYCF indicators were significantly improved in in the overall post-intervention sample except for continuous breastfeeding in the age 20–23 months. At the governorate level, there was significant improvement in the post-intervention phase in most indicators with widely different levels of improvement. Conclusion: Education intervention resulted in significant improvement in IYCF indicators. If the existing health system is uncappable to support the sustainability of such gain, partners has to consider implementation of educational projects as part of the efforts to achieve relevant sustainable development goals.