Assessing the Effect of Sustainable Small-scale Egg Production on Maternal and Child Nutrition in Rural Zambia
Condition: Malnutrition, Child; Malnutrition, Infant
MeSH terms: Malnutrition; Child Nutrition Disorders; Infant Nutrition Disorders
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Animal source foods (ASF), such as meat and eggs, are rich in nutrients critical for growth
      and development. Yet, for poor children in developing countries, ASF consumption is limited
      by cost, inadequate caregiver knowledge, and lack of local production and physical
      availability. The impact of HH- and village-level livestock interventions on household
      dietary diversity and nutritional status in resource-poor communities is not well
      established. The objective of this study is to test the effectiveness of local egg production
      intervention on maternal and child diets and child nutrition status.

      This project takes place in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia in partnership with a local
      non-governmental organization, COMACO. Twenty communities will be assigned to the
      intervention, and 20 matched communities will be selected as controls. In each intervention
      community, an egg production facility will be built, owned, and operated by trained COMACO
      farmers.

      Households (HHs) in each community will be sampled twice annually for 1 year pre-intervention
      (baseline) and 1 year post-intervention to assess dietary diversity and nutritional status.
      Data analysis will test for a change in these outcomes from baseline in each intervention
      community compared to the matched control community.
    

Detailed description: 
      The objective of this study is to test the effectiveness of an intervention establishing
      local egg production on maternal and child diets and nutrition status. The investigators
      hypothesize that this intervention, combined with appropriate agricultural extension and
      nutrition education programs, will result in: 1) increased total household, maternal, and
      child consumption of eggs; 2) improved maternal and child dietary quality; and 3) improved
      infant/ young child nutritional status.

      The investigators will test this hypothesis in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia in partnership with
      a local non-governmental organization, Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO). The forty
      study sites are located in four geographic clusters (Chiefdoms) in Eastern Province Zambia.
      These Chiefdoms are located in two districts: Mambwe (Mnkhanya, Jumbe, and Nsefu Chiefdoms)
      and Lundazi (Mwanya Chiefdom).

      Twenty communities will be assigned to the intervention (egg production), and 20 matched
      communities will be selected as controls (no intervention). In each intervention community,
      an egg production facility will be built, each owned and operated by trained COMACO farmers,
      mostly women. Each group will be provided layer pullets at point-of-lay and layer mash.
      Facility owners will make all business decisions, retain all profits, and will be responsible
      for all upkeep costs.

      In a repeated cross-sectional study design, indicators of food security, wealth, diet,
      nutritional status (anthropometrics), and health and wellbeing will be assessed in all
      egg-producing HHs and in women/child dyads (children aged 6-36 months) residing in the area
      surrounding each facility or central control point. Data will be collected twice annually for
      1 year pre-intervention (baseline) and 1 year post-intervention.

      The exposure of interest is living in an egg-producing community. In the primary analysis,
      the investigators will use hierarchical mixed effects modeling to analyze the effect of the
      program on each of the outcomes of interest (see Outcome Measures section for details).
    

Intervention name(s): Egg production
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Establishment and support of a community-owned and -operated egg production facility located at a central location in the community
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: community development; poultry; animal-source food; stunting