PRACTICE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF EXPOSING INFANTS TO SUNLIGHT AMONG MOTHERS IN CHENCHA TOWN, GAMO ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA,

Abstract

Background: Sunlight exposure has lots of health benefits for infants. Exposure to ultraviolet B stimulates the production of vitamin D in the skin; which helps the body to absorb calcium which has a major role in strengthening bones thereby preventing rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. It has been estimated that more than 90% of human body’s vitamin D requirement is satisfied by exposure to sunlight. So, sunlight exposure is the most important in the prevention of rickets as it is the major source of vitamin D, and this can help in improving child health by decreasing infant morbidity and mortality. Vitamin D deficiency is a major public health problem worldwide and also in Ethiopia; and it can be decreased by exposing human body’s to sunlight. Though studies are scarce regarding sunlight exposure in Ethiopia in general, the status of exposing infants to sunlight among the mothers in this highland is not known. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the practice of exposing infants to sunlight and associated factors among mothers of Chencha town, Gamo zone, Southern Ethiopia, 2021. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among mothers who have under one year of children in Chencha town from June 1-30; 2021. The total sample size was 392. A simple random sampling technique was used to identify the study participants. The data was entered in-to Epi data version 3.1 and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences version 25. Binaryand multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify the associated factors. Statistical significance was declared at a p-value of <0.05 with a 95% confidence interval. Results: The study revealed that all the mothers involved in the study had exposed their infants to sunlight. However, only 166(42.3%) (95%CI (37.4%, 47.4%)) had a good practice. Mothers who were para 2-4 (AOR=2.23(95%CI (1.13, 4.41)), mothers who had good knowledge (AOR=14.34(95%CI (8.17, 25.17)); and mothers who had no fear to expose their infants (AOR=3.01(95%CI (1.81, 5.01)) had a significant association with the practice of sunlight exposure of infants. Conclusion and recommendation: Even though the practice of exposing infants to sunlight is universal in this study area, less than half of the study participants had a good practice of exposing infants to sunlight. There is a great need to increase knowledge of the mother’s good practice of exposing infants to sunlight.