PMID- 37851649 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20231023 LR - 20231025 IS - 1932-6203 (Electronic) IS - 1932-6203 (Linking) VI - 18 IP - 10 DP - 2023 TI - Level of minimum acceptable diet and its associated factors among children aged 12-23 months in Ugandan districts. PG - e0293041 LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0293041 [doi] LID - e0293041 AB - Uganda has made notable progress in improving child nutrition indicators, albeit not fast enough to meet global targets. Navigating the landscape of child nutrition in Uganda demands attention, particularly in light of the necessity for a minimum acceptable diet (MAD) for children aged 12-23 months. While the focus on local nutritional planning is crucial, the absence of routine-specific nutritional status data creates a significant information gap. To bridge this void, this study used datasets from the 2021 Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) survey. Data were analysed using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression (clustering districts based on regional boundaries) at a 5% statistical significance level using STATA version 17. Of the 7,111 children surveyed, 3,256 (49.20%) received the minimum meal frequency, 695 (9.80%) received the minimum dietary diversity, and only 380 (5.34%) received the MAD. There was a notable variation in the proportion of children that received the MAD across regions and districts. Children living in urban areas, children whose mothers had a higher education, and children whose mothers had a diverse diet were more likely to receive the MAD. Children were less likely to receive the MAD if they lived in a household that did not receive a health worker visit within the year. These findings suggest a need to prioritize initiatives aimed at increasing dietary diversity among children in Uganda. This could be done through a variety of approaches, such as leveraging the use of home gardens to boost nutrition through diverse crop cultivation, demonstration gardens, and offering nutrition counselling through village health teams. CI - Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. FAU - Kimuli, Derrick AU - Kimuli D AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5302-7077 AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Nakaggwa, Florence AU - Nakaggwa F AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Kasule, Kenneth AU - Kasule K AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Kiconco, Immaculate AU - Kiconco I AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Nyakwezi, Sheila AU - Nyakwezi S AD - The United States Agency for International Development Uganda, US Mission Compound-South Wing, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Sevume, Solome AU - Sevume S AD - The United States Agency for International Development Uganda, US Mission Compound-South Wing, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Mubiru, Nobert AU - Mubiru N AD - The United States Agency for International Development Uganda, US Mission Compound-South Wing, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Mwehire, Daniel AU - Mwehire D AD - The United States Agency for International Development Uganda, US Mission Compound-South Wing, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Katwesige, Justine Fay AU - Katwesige JF AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Nsubuga, Rebecca N AU - Nsubuga RN AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Amuron, Barbara AU - Amuron B AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Bukenya, Daraus AU - Bukenya D AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Wandera, Bonnie AU - Wandera B AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. FAU - Namuwenge, Norah AU - Namuwenge N AD - Social & Scientific Systems, a DLH Company / United States Agency for International Development Strategic Information Technical Support Activity, Kampala, Uganda. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. DEP - 20231018 PL - United States TA - PLoS One JT - PloS one JID - 101285081 SB - IM MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Child MH - Infant MH - Uganda MH - *Feeding Behavior MH - *Lot Quality Assurance Sampling MH - Socioeconomic Factors MH - Infant Food/analysis MH - Diet MH - Mothers/education MH - Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena PMC - PMC10584160 COIS- The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. EDAT- 2023/10/18 18:44 MHDA- 2023/10/23 01:18 PMCR- 2023/10/18 CRDT- 2023/10/18 13:42 PHST- 2023/07/11 00:00 [received] PHST- 2023/10/04 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2023/10/23 01:18 [medline] PHST- 2023/10/18 18:44 [pubmed] PHST- 2023/10/18 13:42 [entrez] PHST- 2023/10/18 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - PONE-D-23-21614 [pii] AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0293041 [doi] PST - epublish SO - PLoS One. 2023 Oct 18;18(10):e0293041. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293041. eCollection 2023.