The effects of COVID-19 mitigation measures on physical activity (PA) participation among adults in Rwanda: An online cross-sectional survey.

INTRODUCTION: More than a third of the world's population was under full or partial lockdown during COVID-19 by April 2020. Such mitigation measures might have affected participation in various Physical activity (PA) and increased sedentary time. This study aimed to assess the effect of the COVID-19 mitigation measures on participation of adults in various PA types in Rwanda. METHODS: We collected data from conveniently selected participants at their respective PA sites. We assessed the variation in time spent doing in four types of PA (Work related PA, PA in and around home, transportation PA and recreation, sport, and leisure purpose) across different pandemic period. We also evaluated the sedentary time over the weekdays and on the weekends. RESULTS: A total of 1136 participants completed online assisted questionnaire. 71.4% were male, 83% of the study participants aged 18 to 35 years (mean = 29, (standard deviation = 7.79). Mean time spent doing vigorous PA as part of the work dropped from 84.5 minutes per day before COVID-19 to 58.6 minutes per day during lockdown and went back to 81.5 minutes per day after the lockdown. Time spent sitting on weekdays increased from 163 before COVID-19 to 244.5 minutes during lockdown and to 166.8 minutes after lockdown. Sitting time on weekend increased from 150 before COVID-19 to 235 minutes during lockdown and to 151 minutes after lockdown. Sleeping time on weekdays increased from 7.5 hours per day before COVID-19 to 9.9 hours during lockdown and to 7.5 hours after lockdown while it increased from 8 hours before COVID-19 to 10 hours during lockdown and to 8 hours per day after lockdown during weekends. CONCLUSION: The study emphasizes the significance of diverse PA, including home-based programs, during pandemics like COVID-19. It suggests promoting PA types like work-related, transportation, and domestic works during lockdown and similar period.

Animal Source Food Social and Behavior Change Communication Intervention Among Girinka Livestock Transfer Beneficiaries in Rwanda: A Cluster Randomized Evaluation.

Animal source foods (ASFs), including cow's milk, contain essential nutrients and contribute to a healthy diet, but frequency of intake is low among children in low- and middle-income countries. We hypothesized that an ASF social and behavior change communication (SBCC) intervention implemented by community health workers (CHWs) would increase child milk consumption and dietary diversity in households that received a cow from the Government of Rwanda's Girinka livestock transfer program. We tested the 9-month SBCC intervention among children aged 12-29 months at baseline in administrative cells randomly assigned to the intervention or control. Most mothers in the intervention group were exposed to CHWs' home visits (90.7%) or community-level activities (82.8%). At endline, more mothers in the intervention group compared with the control group knew that cow's milk was an ASF (90.1% vs. 81.7%, P=.03) and could be introduced to children at 12 months (41.7% vs. 18.7%, P<.001). More mothers in the intervention group compared with the control group knew they should feed their children ASFs (76.2% vs. 62.1%, P=.01) and give them 1 cup of cow's milk per day (20.6% vs. 7.8%, P<.001). Children's consumption of fresh cow's milk 2 or more times per week increased in the intervention group, although not significantly (8.0 percentage points, P=.17); minimum dietary diversity was unchanged. Children in the intervention group had increased odds of consuming cow's milk 2 or more times per week if their mothers recalled hearing that children should drink 1 cup of cow's milk per day during a CHW's home visit [odds ratio (OR) 2.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.1, 3.9)] or a community activity [OR 2.0, 95% CI (1.2, 3.5)]. Approximately half of the children had no milk during the past week because their households produced too little or sold what was produced. In poor households receiving a livestock transfer, strategies to further tailor SBCC and increase cow's milk production may be needed to achieve larger increases in children's frequency of milk consumption.