Hygienic practice of complementary food preparation and associated factors among mothers with children aged from 6 to 24 months in rural kebeles of Harari region, Ethiopia

Introduction: Evidence shows that 10 to 20% of food-borne outbreaks perceptible in developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of hygienic practice of complementary food preparation and associated factors among mothers with children aged from 6 to 24 months in rural kebeles of Harari region, Ethiopia. The Method is a community based cross-sectional study design which was implemented on 422 of sampled mothers. Simple random sampling method was used to select those study participants. The data was collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaires. Data was processed, coded and entered into epi data version 3.02, exported to SPSS Version 20 and analyzed. Odds ratio along with 95% CI was estimated to measure the strength of the association. Finally, level of statistically significant was declared at P-value <0.05. From the result of this study, the status of good hygienic practice of mothers was (39.6%) [95% CI (confidence interval): 34.60, 43.90]. Lack of formal education [AOR (adjusted odds ratio): [AOR=0.177, 95% CI: (0.044, 0.75)], learning grade 1-8 [AOR=0.214, 95% CI: (0.052, 0.872)], age group of 25-30 years [AOR=6.51, 95% CI: (1.38, 30.50)], income ≥ 1000 ETB [AOR = 2.19, 95% CI: (1.354, 3.55)] and the presence of separate kitchen [AOR=0.594, 95% CI: (0.390, 0.906)] were significantly associated with complementary food preparation practice. The prevalence of good hygienic practice of complementary food preparation among of mothers was low in this study. Hence, the concerned stakeholders in collaboration with Harar health bureau need to facilitate awareness raising activities on hygiene practice which help to prevent food borne.