Prevalence of unhealthy food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Hargeisa city, Somaliland, 2025

Unhealthy food consumption is a growing concern in developing countries, highly contributing for the occurrence of childhood obesity and chronic non-communicable diseases. Despite its significance, data on unhealthy food consumption practice among children aged 6–23 months in Hargeisa City is limited. Therefore, this research aimed to assess the prevalence of unhealthy food consumption practice and its associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Hargeisa City, Somaliland. Community-based cross-sectional study was done in Hargeisa City from July 20 to August 10, 2024. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 595 mother/caregiver-child pairs. Dietary recall method was used to assess the food consumption practice of the children. Data entry was done using Epi Data 3.1 and exported to STATA 14 for analysis. Binary logistic regression was applied to identify factors associated with unhealthy food consumption practice. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to determine the strength of associations. A P-value of 0.05 was used to state the significance of the association in the multivariable analysis. In Hargeisa city, 32.3% (95% CI: 28.5%-36.1%) of the children aged 6–23 months practiced unhealthy food consumption during the study period. Maternal education: unable to read and write (AOR = 1.248, [95% CI; 1.016, 3.718]), able to read and write (AOR = 2.142, [95% CI; 1.053, 4.381]), the child’s age: 12–17 months (AOR = 0.271, [95% CI; 0.124, 0.377]), 18–23 months (AOR = 0.111, [95% CI; 0.064, 0.194]), family size of more than 4 (AOR = 1.59, [95% CI; 1.084, 4.173]) and poor wealth status (AOR = 2.125, [95% CI; 1.472, 13.85]), were significantly associated with the unhealthy food consumption practice. This study reported that one third of the children aged 6–23 months in Hargeisa city consumed unhealthy foods, implying the need of targeted interventions to reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases. Therefore, interventions enhancing maternal educational status and the socioeconomic level of the households should be applied to enable families make healthier food choices for their children.