Background: Under-nutrition among children less than 5 years is still a public health concern in
most developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In Uganda, under-nutrition is
caused by many factors and among them is limited support to mothers and children, yet health
structures are needed to attend to and support fathers. Fathers and male caretakers play a critical
role in providing instrumental and emotional support in improving maternal and child health
outcomes. There is little studied on male involvement and how it should be measured in child
nutrition therefore, this paper explores the level of male involvement in child feeding and its
association with the nutritional status of the children less than 5 years of age.
Methods: A cross sectional study among 346 households with a child and father/male caretaker
pair, 3 focus group discussions and 4 key informant interviews were conducted in one rural
district of South Western Uganda, in October 2013. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95%
confidence intervals (95% CI) of associated factors were estimated by backward stepwise
variable selection method, and Focus Group Discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted
in the local language, transcribed, coded and summarized into themes.
Results: The study revealed the highest percentage of the males provided money to buy food for
the children (93.6%), and only 9.8% have ever accompanied mothers to young child clinics.
Conclusion: In this study; most males were involved in buying food for their children, and
providing money for transport to young child clinics was associated with normal nutritional
status of children less than 5 years in the study area.