Dietary Diversity among School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study of Conflict-Affecting Communities in Southern Ethiopia

Background: More than 815 million estimated people in the worldwide suffer from poverty or family problems with unable to access enough food and related factor like malnutrition. Developing a healthy and balanced dietary pattern is essential for school children because their habits in this period may last for a long time. The ability of communities to address the basic cause of chronic malnutrition is reduced when conflict stops farming and destroys livelihoods Objective : The aim of this study was to assess the levels of dietary diversity practices and associated factors among school children in conflict affecting communities in southern Ethiopia. Method and materials: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 616 schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years with their caregivers using a multistage sampling method. The data were collected by using a structured questionnaire containing ten food gloves for minimum dietary diversity for women and other parts. The data were collected and entered into Epi-data version 4.6.0.2 and exported to STATA software version 14 for analysis. Adequate dietary diversity was defined as the consumption of at least five food groups. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. A p value less than 0.05 on multivariate logistic regression indicated a statistically significant association. Results: The overall response rate of this study was 98.5%. The mean dietary diversity score of the studies was 1.41±0.02, and the prevalence of inadequate dietary diversity among the school children in this study was 59.4% (95% CI, 55.17-62.9937). In this study, schoolchildren with no near-health care facility (AOR = 1.95, 95% CI; 1.35-2.82), a family size greater than five (AOR= 1.44, 95% CI; 1.01-2.050), and the absence of a family home garden (AOR= 1.55, CI: 0.35-1.83) were significantly associated with low dietary diversity in preschool children. Conclusion: The dietary diversity of school children in the study area was below average. A lack of proximity to a health care facility, a family size greater than five, and an absence of a family home garden were determinants of inadequate dietary diversity.