Effect of Nutrition Interventions on the Dietary Diversity Status Among Pregnant Women in Ethiopia: Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

The government of Ethiopia recommends nutrition counseling throughout pregnancy for better consumption of diversified diets, because improving maternal nutrition is vital for the prevention of maternal and child mortality and morbidity. As a result, the purpose of this study aimed to summarize the national evidence on the effect of nutrition intervention on dietary diversity status among pregnant women in Ethiopia using a systematic review and meta-analysis. The advanced search of electronic databases and search engines was used to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of nutrition intervention on the dietary diversity status among pregnant women in Ethiopia. Data extraction and quality appraisal were done through the standardized JBI tool. STATA V.17 was used for analysis. The meta-analysis was carried out using the random effects model. <i>I</i>-squared and <i>Q</i>-tests were used to detect the heterogeneity of the findings. A total of 3891 participants were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis study from 9 and 8 articles, respectively. The pooled difference in difference percentage and mean effects of nutrition intervention on the dietary diversity status among pregnant women were 35.63% (95% CI; 6.87%, 64.39%) and 0.78 (95% CI; 0.38, 1.18), respectively. The heterogeneity tests were very high (<i>I</i> ² = 99.65%, <i>p</i> = 0.00, and 99.96%, <i>p</i> = 0.00) for pooled percentage and mean, respectively. The pooled difference in difference percentage effect of nutrition intervention on the dietary diversity status among the pregnant women from the other regions was higher (57.69% (95% CI: 23.88%, 91.50%)) than the Oromia region (13.63% [95% CI: 3.54%, 23.73%]). The pooled percentage of the effect of nutrition intervention on the dietary diversity status among pregnant women who had received equal to or greater than 5 months intervention was high (44.70% [95% CI: 23.46%, 106.87%]) as compared to the corresponding (29.61% [95% CI: 8.35%, 50.88%]). Nutritional interventions for pregnant women had a positive effect on dietary diversity status. Therefore, efforts should be made to promote nutrition intervention utilizing the HBM and TPB, targeting couples in constructing nutrition education interventions.