Table 1 Characteristics of the study population in Dailekh and Achham districts of Nepal, March-May 2018 and November to December 2021

Caregivers socio-demographic characteristics

Sex of the caregivers

 Female

653 (91.3)

423 (87.0)

332 (93.3)

216 (88.5)

321 (89.4)

207 (85.5)

 Male

62 (8.7)

63 (13.0)

24 (6.7)

28 (11.5)

38 (10.6)

35 (14.5)

Age of the caregivers

 15–25 years

176 (24.6)

63 (13.0)

105 (29.5)

42 (17.2)

71 (19.8)

21 (8.7)

 26–40 years

421 (58.9)

307 (63.2)

207 (58.1)

151 (61.9)

214 (59.6)

156 (64.5)

 > 40 years

118 (16.5)

116 (23.8)

44 (12.4)

51 (20.9)

74 (20.6)

65 (26.8)

Caregiver’s literacy

 Can neither read or write

192 (26.8)

188 (38.7)

41 (11.5)

62 (25.4)

151 (42.0)

126 (52.1)

 Can read only

15 (2.1)

15 (3.1)

14 (3.9)

13 (5.3)

1 (0.3)

2 (0.8)

 Can both read or write

508 (71.1)

283 (58.2)

301 (84.6)

169 (69.3)

207 (57.7)

114 (47.1)

Highest education level caregivers have completed

 Informal education

327 (45.7)

128 (26.3)

109 (30.6)

41 (16.8)

218 (60.7)

87 (36.0)

 Primary

154 (21.5)

156 (32.1)

101 (28.4)

62 (25.4)

53 (14.8)

94 (38.8)

 Secondary

130 (18.2)

57 (11.7)

89 (25.0)

39 (16.0)

41 (11.4)

18 (7.4)

 College and higher

57 (8.0)

90 (18.5)

44 (12.4)

58 (23.8)

13 (3.6)

32 (13.3)

 None

47 (6.6)

55 (11.4)

13 (3.6)

44 (18.0)

34 (9.5)

11 (4.5)

Ethnicity

 Dalit

209 (29.2)

132 (27.2)

111 (31.2)

71 (29.1)

98 (27.3)

61 (25.2)

 Janajati

2 (0.3)

13 (2.7)

1 (0.3)

5 (2.1)

1 (0.3)

8 (3.3)

 Brahmin, Chhetri, Thakuri

498 (69.7)

341 (70.1)

238 (66.8)

168 (68.8)

260 (72.4)

173 (71.5)

 Other

6 (0.8)

0 (0.0)

6 (1.7)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

Total people living in the household

 1–5 people

189 (26.4)

256 (52.7)

120 (33.7)

149 (61.1)

69 (19.2)

107 (44.2)

 6–10 people

479 (67.0)

218 (44.9)

219 (61.5)

87 (35.7)

260 (72.4)

131 (54.2)

 11–15 people

44 (6.1)

11 (2.3)

15 (4.2)

7 (2.9)

29 (8.1)

4 (1.6)

 > 16 people

3 (0.5)

1 (0.1)

2 (0.6)

1 (0.3)

1 (0.3)

0 (0.0)

Electricity connection in the household

 Yes

144 (20.1)

130 (26.7)

129 (36.2)

111 (45.5)

15 (4.2)

19 (7.8)

 No

571 (79.9)

356 (73.3)

227 (63.8)

133 (54.5)

344 (95.8)

223 (92.2)

Number of rooms in the household

 One

557 (77.9)

395 (80.9)

225 (63.2)

165 (67.6)

332 (92.5)

230 (94.3)

 Two

138 (19.3)

82 (16.8)

111 (31.2)

69 (28.3)

27 (7.5)

13 (5.3)

 Three

13 (1.8)

11 (2.3)

13 (3.6)

10 (4.1)

0 (0.0)

1 (0.4)

 Four

7 (1.0)

0 (0.0)

7 (2.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

Number of children in the household

 One

230 (32.2)

153 (31.5)

127 (35.7)

87 (35.7)

103 (28.7)

66 (27.3)

 Two

302 (42.2)

173 (35.6)

158 (44.4)

85 (34.8)

144 (40.1)

88 (36.4)

 Three

142 (19.9)

147 (30.3)

60 (16.8)

64 (26.2)

82 (22.8)

83 (34.2)

 Four

33 (4.6)

11 (2.3)

8 (2.2)

6 (2.5)

25 (7.0)

5 (2.1)

 Five

5 (0.7)

2 (0.3)

2 (0.6)

2 (0.8)

3 (0.8)

0 (0.0)

 Six

3 (0.4)

0 (0.0)

1 (0.3)

0 (0.0)

2 (0.6)

0 (0.0)

Children below age of 5

 None

179 (25.0)

248 (51.0)

96 (26.9)

118 (48.4)

83 (23.1)

130 (53.7)

 One

374 (52.3)

186 (38.3)

200 (56.2)

92 (37.7)

174 (48.5)

94 (38.9)

 Two

152 (21.3)

48 (9.9)

58 (16.3)

31 (12.7)

94 (26.2)

17 (7.0)

 Three

7 (1.0)

4 (0.8)

1 (0.3)

3 (1.2)

6 (1.7)

1 (0.4)

 Four

2 (0.3)

0 (0.0)

1 (0.3)

0 (0.0)

1 (0.3)

0 (0.0)

 Five

1 (0.1)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

1 (0.2)

0 (0.0)

Sex of the children included into the study

 Male

318 (44.5)

222 (45.7)

146 (41.0)

98 (40.2)

172 (47.9)

124 (51.2)

 Female

397 (55.5)

264 (54.3)

210 (59.0)

146 (59.8)

187 (52.1)

118 (48.8)

Age of the children included into the study

 6–60 months

479 (67.0)

74 (15.2)

232 (65.2)

37 (15.2)

247 (68.8)

37 (15.3)

 > 61 months

236 (33.0)

412 (84.8)

124 (34.8)

207 (84.8)

112 (31.2)

205 (84.7)