Integrating Nutrition Education & Household Food Production for Child Nutrition
Condition: Behavior
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      In Ethiopia, a child-centered counseling approach is hypothesized to be more effective than
      the current nutrition and health education when investment on home-based food production is
      used as a platform for nutrition education. This project is proposed to evaluate the efficacy
      of a food-based package integrating child-centered nutrition counseling and home-based food
      production using a between-group comparative intervention study. The intervention comprises
      child-centered nutrition counseling for caretakers and support for 'developed' gardens and
      improved backyard poultry production.
    

Detailed description: 
      Growth faltering among Ethiopian infants and young children is one of the highest in
      sub-Saharan Africa. Nutrition education on infant and young child feeding has shown good
      potential to improve growth of young children whenever it is accessible, context-based and
      integrated with locally available resources. The current nutrition education in Ethiopia,
      however, appears to be general and lacks the essential components for success. It is mainly
      didactic and lacks a motivational approach that can enhance the self-efficacy of mothers for
      behavior change. Another important barrier for nutrition education to become effective is
      that rural mothers have limited access to nutrient-dense foods that are recommended to be fed
      to young children. Therefore, it is expected that low food access by poor households together
      with the less motivational approach used may hamper the effectiveness of the current
      nutrition education in the country. In Ethiopia, a child-centered counseling approach is
      hypothesized to be more effective than the current nutrition and health education when
      investment on home-based food production is used as a platform for nutrition education. This
      project is proposed to evaluate the efficacy of a food-based package integrating
      child-centered nutrition counseling and home-based food production using a between-group
      comparative intervention study. The intervention comprises child-centered nutrition
      counseling for caretakers and support for 'developed' gardens and improved backyard poultry
      production; whereas the control will only receive the agriculture extension and the existing
      health and nutrition education in the area. Two Primary Healthcare Units (one intervention
      and one control group) will be selected from Jimma Zone using relevant criteria. A total of
      404 (i.e. 202 in each of intervention and control areas) households with infants of age < 12
      months will participate in the study for 18 months. The efficacy of the intervention will be
      assessed by its effect on child growth and infant and child feeding index as primary
      outcomes. Besides the effect on dietary adequacy and growth, the project aims at evaluating
      the interactive processes in a longitudinal way to provide evidence on the possible success
      factors and barriers encountered. Therefore, secondary outcomes include household production,
      income and expenditure in relation to the home-based food production; diet diversity; feeding
      and care practices, and morbidity. Data will be compared between intervention and control
      groups using linear mixed-effects models and generalized linear models.
    

Intervention name(s): Child Centered Nutrition Counseling; no intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Other
Intervention description(s): The intervention comprises child-centered nutrition counseling for caretakers and support for 'developed' gardens and improved backyard poultry production; whereas the control will only receive the agriculture extension and the existing health and nutrition education in the area; the control will only receive the agriculture extension and the existing health and nutrition education in the area
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Child Centered Counseling; Home based food production; Nutrition; Health; IYCF