Iron-rich food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in sub-Saharan Africa: A multilevel analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys

<jats:sec id="sec001"><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p>Anemia remains a major public health problem for children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Iron-rich foods consumption has a determinant role on the anemia status. Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of good consumption of iron-rich foods and its associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in SSA.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="sec002"><jats:title>Materials and methods</jats:title><jats:p>The recent Demographic and Health Survey data sets of thirty-five SSA countries were used. Data were analyzed using STATA/MP version 16.0 and all statistical analyses were done after weighting the data. A generalized linear mixed model using Poisson regression with robust error variance was used to determine factors associated with good consumption of iron-rich food. Association of variables was declared at a p-value of ≤0.05 and adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) ratio with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated for each variable.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="sec003"><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The total weighted samples of 77,001 children aged 6–23 months were included. The prevalence of consumption of iron rich foods was 42.1% (95% CI: 41.78–42.48). Children with age of 12–17 (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.89–2.04) and 18–23 months (aPR = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.97–2.14), who took drugs for intestinal parasites (aPR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.26–1.34), with postnatal check within 2 months (aPR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.06–1.13), and children from women with ANC visit of 1–3 (aPR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.24–1.37) and ≥4 (aPR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.34–1.48) had higher prevalence of good consumption of iron rich foods. Moreover, the prevalence of consumptions of iron rich foods was higher among children from; family with rich (aPR = 1.36, 95%CI: 1.30–1.42) and middle (aPR = 1.14 95% CI: 1.09–1.19) wealth index, and mother with media exposure (aPR = 1.26, 95%CI: 1.22–1.31).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="sec004"><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>The prevalence of good consumption of iron-rich foods among children aged 6–23 months in SSA countries is low. Child factors, family factors, and community-level factors were significantly associated with consumption of iron rich foods. Strategies to increase the consumption of iron-rich foods during this critical stage of growth and development should be designed in SSA.</jats:p></jats:sec>