Meals, Education, and Gardens for In-School Adolescents (MEGA) Project
Condition: Anemia
MeSH terms: Anemia
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This purpose of this study is to assess effects of a comprehensive, school-based nutrition
      intervention package on anemia status, anthropometric indicators, school
      performance/attendance, and development indicators among adolescents, and the knowledge,
      attitudes, and practices of nutrition, agriculture, and WASH among parents, in Tanzania.
    

Detailed description: 
      The Meals, Education, and Gardens for In-School Adolescents (MEGA) Project aims to implement
      and evaluate a comprehensive, school-based nutrition intervention package among secondary
      schools in Dodoma, Tanzania. The intervention will include four primary components: (1)
      school garden, (2) school meal program, (3) agriculture, nutrition, and water, sanitation,
      and hygiene (WASH) education, and (4) community workshops.

      This will be a cluster randomized trial with 3 arms, containing two schools each. At the
      beginning of the academic year, six schools will be randomized to intervention or control.
      Two schools will receive the full intervention package (school lunch, school garden, and
      education), two schools will receive the partial intervention package (school garden and
      education), and two schools will serve as control to receive the standard of care. Community
      workshops will also be provided to parents of adolescents in full and partial intervention
      schools.

      In the full intervention schools, all adolescents will receive a midday meal, while a subset
      of Forms 1 or 2 adolescents will additionally participate in a school gardening program that
      includes nutrition, agriculture, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) education, led by
      selected teachers. Parents of adolescents in full intervention schools will be invited to
      participate in community workshops on nutrition, hygiene, and agricultural best practices,
      led by community Agriculture Extension Workers (AEWs).

      In the partial intervention schools, Forms 1 or 2 adolescents will participate in the
      gardening and education components described above, but will not receive the midday meal.
      Parents of participating adolescents will also be invited to participate in the community
      workshops.

      Adolescents in control schools will not receive any of these interventions but will be
      provided with standard of care practices at secondary schools in Dodoma. In addition,
      teachers in control schools will receive a hard copy of educational materials on nutrition,
      agriculture, and WASH to enhance their lesson plans. The intervention will take place over
      the course of one year.

      The goal of the MEGA project is to study the effects of the integrated intervention on the
      nutrition and health of adolescents and their families in Tanzania. Ultimately, we aim to use
      the findings from this study to inform the scale-up of future school and community-based
      interventions to improve nutrition through training, improved crop production, and increased
      consumption of vegetables.
    

Intervention name(s): School meal, garden, education, and community workshops; Garden, education, and community workshops
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): School meal: midday meal provided at intervention schools
School garden: garden used to grow crops (which will be used to supplement the school meal in the full intervention schools)
Education: agriculture, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) curriculum
Community workshops: Led by agricultural extension workers and open to community members, the community workshops will cover nutrition messages, agricultural messages, and hands-on activities on nutrition, agriculture, and WASH.; School garden: garden used to grow crops
Education: agriculture, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) curriculum
Community workshops: Led by agricultural extension workers and open to community members, the community workshops will cover nutrition messages, agricultural messages, and hands-on activities on nutrition, agriculture, and WASH.
Other intervention name(s): Full intervention package; Partial intervention package
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Six schools will be randomly assigned to receive the full intervention (school meal, garden, and education), partial intervention (garden and education), or control (standard of care). Community workshops will also be provided to parents of adolescents in full and partial intervention schools.
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Anemia; School garden; School lunch; Nutrition; Adolescent health