Impacts of mobile health interventions on infant and young child feeding in LMICs: systematic review and meta-analysis

Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) plays a critical role in child survival and development, especially in LMICs. There is evidence that mhealth interventions impact health outcomes therefore this systematic review aims to synthesize existing evidence on the impact of mHealth interventions on breastfeeding practices, complementary feeding, and nutrition-related attitudes, knowledge, and self-efficacy in LMICs. The PRISMA guidelines of reporting were followed for the searching of seven databases and screening following eligibility criteria. Of the 2393 articles screened, only 22 met the eligibility criteria, 11 were randomized trials, three were quasi-experimental studies, three were cohort studies, two were mixed methods, and two were cross-sectional surveys. The articiles were published between 2010 and 2023. Most of the studies were conducted in LMICs. Many types of mHealth intervention were reported namely, a digital job aid, voice/text messaging, telephone-counselling interventions, mobile or web-based educational applications and multi-component interventions. The meta-analysis results demonstrated that mhealth interventions significantly impact on the initial breastfeeding (BF) (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 0.91–1.73), exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) duration at 1-month (OR = 1.55,95% CI = 1.03–2.34), 5/6 months (OR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.34–2.29), complementary feeding (OR = 1.51,95% CI = 1.17–1.94), and minimum dietary diversity. Future research should compare effectiveness of different mHealth, Long-term effects and sustainability modalities such as integrating into health system in LMICs.