Abstract

This study is an overview of a previous study conducted in Debre Berhan town in 2021, which highlighted that a significant percentage of participants had poor practice in sunlight exposure for infants. It mentions that mothers, particularly housewives or government employees aged 33 and above, believe that sunlight strengthens infant bones and improves their health. Additionally, it states that mothers who received information from healthcare professionals were more likely to have good practice in sunning their infants. The background highlights the worldwide Vitamin D deficiency pandemic due to the lack of awareness about the importance of sensible sunlight exposure. This study aims to assess the practice of exposing infants to sunlight and the associated factors among caregivers attending Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital during a specific time frame. The materials and methods explain the study design, which is a facility-based cross-sectional design conducted at Arsi University, College of Health Sciences Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital. It mentions the data collection method using structured questionnaires and the individuals involved in collecting the data. The analysis was performed using SPSS version 21, and the results were presented using text, tables, and graphs. According to the results, all the caregivers were interviewed, and 50.8% of them had good practice in sunning their infants. The section mentions that caregivers' and husbands' educational status, caregivers' perception, and sources of information were significantly associated with the practice of exposing infants to sunlight. This indicates that these factors play a role in determining the caregivers' practices. The conclusion states that nearly half of the participants had poor practice in sunning their infants, emphasizing the need for attention from health professionals and other concerned bodies regarding sunlight exposure for infants.

Key words: Rickets, sunlight exposure, ultraviolet index, vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency (VDD).