An Integrated Education Intervention to Improve Infant and Young Child Nutrition Growth in Ghana

Download or read book An Integrated Education Intervention to Improve Infant and Young Child Nutrition Growth in Ghana written by Agartha Cofie and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Inappropriate complementary feeding (CF) practices and inadequate nutrient intakes contribute to the high level of malnutrition among children 6-24 months of age in Ghana. In communities where the economy is agricultural-based, interventions aimed at addressing malnutrition among infants and young children may need to focus on both food production and caregivers' nutrition knowledge. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a combined nutrition and agricultural education intervention, delivered through community health workers and agricultural extension agents, to improve infant and young child diet and growth in the Upper Manya Krobo district of Ghana. The current CF practices, and facilitators and barriers of CF education were identified through in-depth interviews of community health workers (n = 28) and staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (n = 3), as well as three focus group discussions with caregivers (n = 22) of children 6-24 months of age. The Trials of Improved Practices method was used to test the feasibility of potential nutrition education messages. This process guided the development of the subsequent intervention. A cluster-randomised study design was used to compare the feeding practices, nutrient intakes, and growth of infants and young children (n = 367) in two intervention groups (combined nutrition and agricultural education [IE], nutrition education only [NE]), and a control group [CT]. Each child's diet and anthropometric data, and household demographic and agricultural production information were collected at baseline and at three-month intervals for nine months. Food insecurity can influence the types and amounts of food that young children consume, which may then affect their nutritional status and health. Therefore, the level of household food insecurity during the pre-harvest season and its relation with infant morbidity and growth were also assessed (n = 333). The results indicate that in this rural setting, 21.6% of households experienced food insecurity in the previous month. Household food insecurity was associated with respiratory infections in the second half of infancy, but not with diarrhea or stunting. Inclusion of animal source products, fruits, and vegetables in young children's diet was not common in the area. Poverty and maternal time constraints, and lack of teaching materials and language barrier, were identified as challenges to optimal CF practices and provision of CF education, respectively. Almost half of intervention mothers (45%) never attended an education session. Children in the IE were twice as likely to meet the minimum meal frequency compared to the CT children (aOR = 2.62; 95% CI; 1.11, 6.16), but energy, vitamin A, calcium, and iron intakes from complementary foods, and growth indicators did not differ among the three groups. Additionally, children of mothers who attended at least one nutrition education session in the IE group tended to receive the minimum acceptable diet (aOR = 2.30, 95% CI; 0.98, 5.39, p = 0.055) compared to children in the CT group at the end of the study. There were no differences between the two intervention groups, and feeding practices among children in the NE group did not improve at the end of the study. Future education interventions will need to increase the involvement of participants at the development phase of interventions, as a way of improving participation among caregivers of infants and young children." --