The contribution of dietary and non-dietary factors to socioeconomic inequality in childhood anemia in Ethiopia: a regression-based decomposition analysis

摘要

Abstract ObjectiveThere is a scarcity of evidence on socioeconomic inequalities of childhood anemia in Ethiopia. We determined the magnitude of socioeconomic inequality in anemia and the contribution of dietary and non-dietary factors to the observed inequality, using a nationally representative data of 2902 children included in the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey. The data were collected following a multistage, stratified cluster sampling strategy. We followed the Blinder–Oaxaca regression-based approach to decompose the inequality and determine the relative contribution (%) of the dietary and non-dietary factors to the observed inequality.ResultWe found a significant pro-poor socioeconomic inequality in childhood anemia in Ethiopia. A third (~?33%) of the inequality was attributable to compositional differences in the dietary determinants of anemia (dietary diversity, meal frequency, and breastfeeding factors). Non-dietary factors like residence place, maternal education, and birth weight) jointly explained?~?36% of the inequality. Maternal education was the single most important factor, accounting alone for?~?28% the inequality, followed by rural residence (~?17%) and dietary diversity (~?16%). Efforts to narrow socioeconomic gaps and/or designing equity sensitive interventions by prioritizing the poor in healthutrition interventions stands worth of consideration to reduce the burden of childhood anemia in Ethiopia and beyond.