Practice of Sunlight Exposure of Infants and Associated Factors Among Mothers in Kamba Zuria District, South Ethiopia, 2025

Abstract Background -Human being needs sunlight for physical and mental well-being. Sunlight helps the body to produce vitamin D, an important vitamin for skeletal development. So, the community should be counseled to get sufficient sun exposure and vitamin D supplementation to uphold the serum 25 (OH) D levels. There is a limited study about the infant’s sunlight exposure practice and associated factors among mothers in Ethiopia, particularly in the study area. Objective To assess practice of sunlight exposure of infants and associated factors among mothers in kamba Zuria District, Gammo Zone, South Ethiopia, 2025. Method -A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among mothers of infants in Kamba Zuria district by taking a total sample size of 608 women from The study was conducted from August 15to September15, 2024. A multistage sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews using interviewer-administered questionnaires. The collected data was checked, cleaned, coded, and entered using EPI data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25.0 software for analysis. Multicollinearity was checked by the variance inflation factor (VIF). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done by using binary logistic regression to see the association between each independent variable and the outcome variable. A Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistic was used to check model fitness. An adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) and corresponding P-value was used to identify statistically significant factors. A P-value of <  0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. Results - This study revealed that 314 (53.2%) mothers had good practice of infants’ sunlight exposure. Fear of sunlight exposure ( AOR  = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.016, 3.096), home delivery ( AOR  = 49.2%, 95% CI = 0.253, 0.956) and PNC ( AOR  = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.006, 1.9), were significantly associated with their infants' exposure to sunlight. Conclusion and recommendations The current study showed that two-thirds (53.2%) of mothers had good practice of sunlight exposure to their infants. Factors that affect mothers’ practice of infants’ sunlight exposure are fear of sunlight exposure, place of delivery and PNC. All health professionals and health extension workers should provide health education for mothers on the benefits of infants’ sunlight exposure considering all possible opportunities.