Funding for this research was provided by:
NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) under the NORHED-Programme.
Article History
Received: 1 January 2018
Accepted: 5 September 2018
First Online: 26 September 2018
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of University of Oslo (ref 2016/1726 REC South East, Section D) as well as from Jimma University (RPGC/381/2016) and the Oromia region (ORH/AH31711/1–8/2341). The purpose of the trial was explained in a formal letter and verbally to district administrative and health officials. Approval to include the selected zones in the trial will be sought from kebele authorities. After identification of all pregnant women in each cluster, they were invited to a meeting where nature and purpose of the trial was explained. Then data collectors explained the detailed procedures on the information sheet from inclusion criteria to the last follow-up. The women will be given chance to ask questions. Pregnant women, who fulfill eligibility criteria, agree to participate in the trial and agree to be visited by data collectors will be requested to sign a written informed consent. Women who are unable to read and/or write give a thumbprint. If the woman is less than 18 years old then consent will be sought from her husband or guardian. Irrespective of their participation in data collection, all women in intervention clusters will benefit from counselling sessions on EBF if they wished. During the course of the trial, women while pregnant or after giving birth and infants reporting to be ill in both study groups will be referred to health facilities.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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