PDF, 1536K - Measure DHS

10.5 EATING TABOOS
Within a population, some groups may avoid eating certain types of food during pregnancy
because of cultural taboos. This could have a detrimental effect on the health of the mother and her
child. The Ethiopia DHS included a question to find out whether this was common among its population.
Table 10.5 shows the percentage of women who gave birth in the five years preceding the survey who
stopped eating specific foods for cultural reasons during their pregnancy, by background characteristics.
Only 9 percent of women stopped eating specific foods during their pregnancy. The most common types
of food avoided during pregnancy were cheese and butter (36 percent), vegetables (29 percent), and
milk (27 percent). In addition, 15 percent and 12 percent of mothers avoided taking meat and fruit,
respectively, during their pregnancy. Eating restrictions were more common among young women
(under age 20) and mothers of lower order births.
10.6 DELIVERY CARE
An important component of efforts to reduce the health risks of mothers and children is to
increase the proportion of babies delivered under the supervision of health professionals. Proper medical
attention and hygienic conditions during delivery can reduce the risk of complications and infections that
may cause death or serious illness to either the mother or the baby or both. Data on delivery care was
obtained for all births that occurred in the five years preceding the survey.
An overwhelming majority of births (95 percent) in the five years before the survey were
delivered at home (Table 10.6 and Figure 10.1). Women are more likely to deliver their first births at
a health facility than their second and higher order births. Children born in urban areas are fifteen times
more likely to be delivered in a health facility than children born in rural areas. The proportions of births
delivered in a health facility are generally low in all the regions (8 percent or less) with the exception
of births occurring in the Gambela and Harari regions and in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. In these four
areas, the proportion of births delivered in a health facility ranges from 23 percent in the Gambela
Region to 67 percent in Addis Ababa. There is also a strong association between the level of education
of mothers and the place of delivery. The proportion of births delivered in a health facility is only 2
percent for uneducated mothers, compared with 41 percent of births to mothers with secondary and
higher education. Institutional deliveries are also more common among women who have made
antenatal care visits. Only 2 percent of births to women who received no antenatal care were delivered
in a health facility, compared with 7 percent of births to women who made one to three visits and 27
percent of births to women who made four or more visits.
Maternal and Child Health * 117