Sampling procedure

In the South Gondar Zone, there are 12 Woreda/districts; 3 of them were selected using simple random sampling (Farta district, Layi Gayint district, and Sede – Muja district). Finally, participants were included using a simple random sampling technique after the assessment of eligibility through the house-to-house census. The numbers of women sampled from the selected Kebeles were determined using proportional allocation to the population size of each Kebeles. Of all eligible women, 422 women who were married or had a life partner were registered during census time. After this, weight was measured from prepregnancy till 9 mo of pregnancy. Prepregnancy weight and height measurements were taken cross-sectionally from September to December 2018. After this, a follow-up system was established. In the case of >1 eligible respondent within 1 house, only 1 respondent was selected using the lottery method.