Assessment of factors associated with infant and young child feeding practices of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive mothers in selected hospitals of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR) Ethiopia

Mother-to-child transmission is the largest source of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in children. About one third of children are believed to be infected vertically through breast-feeding. Infant feeding in the context of HIV is complex. HIV positive women are confused about feeding methods and mixed feeding continued to be widespread. However, there are few studies on the practice of HIV positive mothers and counseling message of health workers in Ethiopia (Maru and Haidar, 2009). Objective: The objective of this study was to assess magnitude and factors associated with infant and young child feeding practice of HIV positive mothers in selected hospitals of Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples of Region, 2011. An institution based cross sectional study was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods. A total of 201 HIV positive mothers with children less than two years of age were purposively selected at morning time in order of arrival. Health workers working on anti -retroviral therapy and prevention of mother to child transmission clinics were taken for in-depth interview in Hawassa, Yirgalem and Dilla Hospitals. Of all respondent, 87 (47.5%) HIV positive mothers had children with the age of less than 6 months, among 87 (47.5%) HIV positive mothers, 56.3% had experience of exclusive breast feeding, 13 (35.6%) of the mothers mix fed their babies while 8.1% exclusive replacement feeding. Regarding issues discussed during counseling time by health workers, from total of 183 HIV positive mothers, 78.7% mothers received counseling on different feeding options. Most, 96.2 and 76.0% of mothers received counseling on advantages and disadvantages of breast feeding respectively, and 67.8 and 71% disadvantages of replacement and mixed feeding respectively. Mother‘s who had antenatal follow up and favorable attitude towards feeding options were more likely to practice exclusive breast feeding and less likely to practice mixed feeding. More than half of the mothers practiced exclusive breast feeding and very small proportion of HIV positive mothers chose replacement feeding, but still greater than one third of HIV positive mothers practiced mixed feeding. In general, infant and young child feeding practices observed in this study fall short of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, so it is recommended that all HIV positive mothers should be provided with adequate information to enable them to select the best feeding option for their babies, and to successfully carry out their infant feeding decisions.