Minimum Dietary Diversity Score and Associated Factors among Pregnant Women at Alamata General Hospital, Raya Azebo Zone, Tigray Region, Ethiopia

Background. Consumption of diversified food during pregnancy found very important and critical to determine healthy pregnancy outcome. Low dietary diversity has a major adverse effect on mothers, fetus, and life of new born. Dietary diversity is still low in low-resourced countries. Therefore, this study aims to determine prevalence of minimum dietary diversity score (MDDS) and associated factors among pregnant women. Methods. Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April to May, 2017, in Alamata General Hospital (AGH). Data were collected using a pretested and structured self-interview questionnaire. A systematic sampling technique was used to select study participants. Binary logistic regression and odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) were carried out to see the association between variables and the outcomes. Results. From a survey of 412 participants, 61.2% had high MDDS and 38.8% had low MDDS. Multivariate analysis revealed that being government employees (AOR = 4.87, CI: 1.70-13.95), merchant (AOR = 4.67, CI: 1.81-12.05), secured food (AOR = 3.85, CI: 2.12-6.97), and eating three meals and above (AOR = 2.66, CI: 1.47-4.82) were significantly associated with high MDDS among pregnant women. Conclusions. In our study, minimum dietary diversity shows small increment from previous study. Screening and special emphases should be given by a health-care provider on women diet during antenatal follow-up at health-care settings.