The power of counseling: Changing maternal, infant, and young child nutrition and family planning practices in Dhamar, Yemen.

We conducted a study to determine current maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) and family planning (FP) practices and how practices can be improved with counseling. The study consisted of qualitative methods. Mothers and couples were able to attempt and adopt new practices after only one counseling visit, except consuming meat daily due to cost, and adopting contraception, which was challenging due to health system constraints. Most appreciated receiving information, reported positive experiences, and said they would continue practices. It is possible to improve these practices through counseling, although some systems factors should be addressed.

Maximizing Opportunities: Family Planning and Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition Integration in Bondo Sub-County, Kenya.

Purpose This article shares learning from an innovative demonstration program integrating maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) and family planning (FP) services in western Kenya, providing recommendations for future work to expand MIYCN and FP integration. Description Six health facilities reorganized to integrate MIYCN and FP services and community health volunteers (CHVs) promoted MIYCN and FP in adjacent communities in Bondo Sub-County over a 1-year period. At the facility level, each provider was directed to provide both sets of services in a single room during FP, antenatal care, postnatal care, or child consultation visits (a "one stop shop" approach). At community level, CHVs were to conduct household visits equipped with new integrated materials and incorporate MIYCN and FP within community activities. Assessment Although the "one stop shop" approach, where one provider offers all integrated services in one room, was initially proposed for all facilities, this worked most effectively in the dispensary and health centers. The sub-county hospital adapted the approach such that integrated services were offered by more than one provider during a visit, with clients linked from one provider to another through same-day intra-facility referrals. CHVs were generally able to incorporate MIYCN and FP content within household visits and community activities; however some knowledge gaps were noted after initial training, necessitating additional refresher training. Conclusion This demonstration experience revealed that future replication efforts should enable sub-county team leadership, assess facility readiness, streamline data collection, build local buy-in, and prioritize dispensaries and health centers with high client loads.

Enhancing Linkages Between Healthy Diets, Local Agriculture, and Sustainable Food Systems: The School Meals Planner Package in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Interventions that enhance linkages between healthy diets and local agriculture can promote sustainable food systems. Home-grown school feeding programs present a promising entry point for such interventions, through the delivery of nutritious menus and meals. OBJECTIVE: To describe the adaptation of the School Meals Planner Package to the programmatic and environmental reality in Ghana during the 2014 to 2015 school year. METHODS: Guided by a conceptual framework highlighting key considerations and trade-offs in menu design, an open-source software was developed that could be easily understood by program implementers. Readily available containers from markets were calibrated into "handy measures" to support the provision of adequate quantities of food indicated by menus. Schools and communities were sensitized to the benefits of locally sourced, nutrient-rich diets. A behavior change communication campaign including posters and songs promoting healthy diets was designed and disseminated in schools and communities. RESULTS: The School Meals Planner Package was introduced in 42 districts in Ghana, reaching more than 320 000 children. Monitoring reports and feedback on its use were positive, demonstrating how the tool can be used by planners and implementers alike to deliver nutritious, locally-sourced meals to schoolchildren. The value of the tool has been recognized at the highest levels by Ghana's government who have adopted it as official policy. CONCLUSIONS: The School Meals Planner Package supported the design of nutritious, locally sourced menus for the school feeding program in Ghana. The tool can be similarly adapted for other countries to meet context-specific needs.

Factors associated with early growth in Egyptian infants: implications for addressing the dual burden of malnutrition.

Optimal nutrition is critical to the attainment of healthy growth, human capital and sustainable development. In Egypt, infants and young children face overlapping forms of malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, stunting and overweight. Yet, in this setting, little is known about the factors associated with growth during the first year of life. A rise in stunting in Lower Egypt from 2005 to 2008 prompted this implementation research study, which followed a longitudinal cohort of infants from birth to 1 year of age within the context of a USAID-funded maternal and child health integrated programme. We sought to determine if growth patterns and factors related to early growth differed in Lower and Upper Egypt, and examined the relationship between weight loss and subsequent stunting at 12 months of age. Growth patterns revealed that length-for-age z-score (LAZ) decreased and weight-for-length z-score (WLZ) increased from 6 to 12 months of age in both regions. One-quarter of infants were stunted and nearly one-third were overweight by 12 months of age in lower Egypt. Minimum dietary diversity was significantly associated with WLZ in Lower Egypt (ß = 0.22, P < 0.05), but not in Upper Egypt. Diarrhoea, fever and programme exposure were not associated with any growth outcome. Weight loss during any period was associated with a twofold likelihood of stunting at 12 months in Lower Egypt, but not Upper Egypt. In countries, like Egypt, facing the nutrition transition, infant and young child nutrition programmes need to address both stunting and overweight through improving dietary quality and reducing reliance on energy-dense foods.

The rise in stunting in relation to avian influenza and food consumption patterns in Lower Egypt in comparison to Upper Egypt: results from 2005 and 2008 Demographic and Health Surveys.

BACKGROUND: A 2006 avian influenza (AI) outbreak resulted in mass removal of chickens in Lower Egypt, which decreased the household supply of poultry. Poultry, a key animal-source food, contains nutrients critical for child growth. This paper examines determinants of stunting between 2006 and 2008 in children 6 to 59 months of age within the context of the AI outbreak. METHODS: The 2005 and 2008 nationally representative Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHS) were used to analyse anthropometric data from 7,794 children in 2005 and 6,091 children in 2008. Children, 6-59 months of age, with length for age Z-score < -2 S.D. were categorized as stunted. Predictors of stunting were examined by bivariate and multivariable analyses, focusing on Lower Egypt, where a rise in stunting occurred, and Upper Egypt, where stunting declined. RESULTS: Between 2005 and 2008, Upper Egypt experienced a significant decline in stunting (28.8 to 21.8%, P < 0.001). Lower Egypt experienced a significant rise in stunting (16.6 to 31.5%, P < 0.001), coinciding with the 2006 AI outbreak. In Lower Egypt (2008), households owning poultry were 41.7% less likely to have a stunted child [aOR 0.58; 95% CI (0.42, 0.81) P = 0.002], and 12-47 month old children were 2.12-2.34 times [95% CI (1.39 - 3.63) P ≤ 0.001] more likely to be stunted than 6-11 month old children. Older children were likely affected by AI, as these children were either in-utero or toddlers in 2006. In Upper Egypt, stunting peaked at 12-23 months [aOR 2.62, 95% CI (1.73-3.96), P < 0.001], with lowered risk (22-32%) of stunting in 24-47 month old children [aOR1.65, 95% 1.07-2.53, P = 0.022, 24-35 month old] and [aOR 1.57, 95% CI 1.01-2.43, P = 0.043 36-47 months old]. A two-fold increase in child consumption of sugary foods between 2005 and 2008 was found in Lower Egypt (24.5% versus 52.7%; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Decreased dietary diversity, reduced poultry consumption, substitution of nutritious foods with sugary foods paralleled a reduction in household raising of birds, following the AI outbreak in Lower Egypt and not Upper Egypt. Increased feeding of sugary foods due to fear of illness or greater penetration of these foods may be related to stunting. Advice on infant and young child feeding is needed to improve dietary intake and reduce sugary food consumption.

Exploring why junk foods are 'essential' foods and how culturally tailored recommendations improved feeding in Egyptian children.

In Egypt, the double burden of malnutrition and rising overweight and obesity in adults mirrors the transition to westernized diets and a growing reliance on energy-dense, low-nutrient foods. This study utilized the trials of improved practices (TIPs) methodology to gain an understanding of the cultural beliefs and perceptions related to feeding practices of infants and young children 0-23 months of age and used this information to work in tandem with 150 mothers to implement feasible solutions to feeding problems in Lower and Upper Egypt. The study triangulated in-depth interviews (IDIs) with mothers participating in TIPs, with IDIs with 40 health providers, 40 fathers and 40 grandmothers to gain an understanding of the influence and importance of the role of other caretakers and health providers in supporting these feeding practices. Study findings reveal high consumption of junk foods among toddlers, increasing in age and peaking at 12-23 months of age. Sponge cakes and sugary biscuits are not perceived as harmful and considered 'ideal' common complementary foods. Junk foods and beverages often compensate for trivial amounts of food given. Mothers are cautious about introducing nutritious foods to young children because of fears of illness and inability to digest food. Although challenges in feeding nutritious foods exist, mothers were able to substitute junk foods with locally available and affordable foods. Future programming should build upon cultural considerations learned in TIPs to address sustainable, meaningful changes in infant and young child feeding to reduce junk foods and increase dietary quality, quantity and frequency.

School feeding: outcomes and costs.

BACKGROUND: School-feeding programs are popular development assistance programs in developing countries but have previously had few sound, empirical analyses of their effectiveness and costs. OBJECTIVE: The goals of this study were to provide a realistic estimate of the costs of school feeding and combine these estimates with outcome information to obtain the cost per outcome. METHODS: Cost studies were conducted in three African countries by reviewing school-feeding costs provided by the World Food Programme and interviewing stakeholders in ministries of education and in the community. In another African country, existing costing information was used. To compare across the countries, costs were standardized for a 200-day school year, a 700-kcal per day ration, and when children were not fed. To obtain cost per outcome data, outcomes were obtained from a review of school-feeding studies. RESULTS: The cost of school feeding ranged from U.S. $28 to U.S. $63 per child per year (weighted mean cost of U.S. $40 per child per year). The cost for an extra day of attendance was less than U.S. $10 per student, while the cost per extra kilogram of weight ranged from U.S. $38 to U.S. $252. Costs for cognitive outcomes were similarly variable. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis estimates a higher average cost but a narrower range of costs when compared with previous estimates, reflecting the greater precision of the current analyses. The cost per outcome was high, but this analysis does not capture the full range of outcomes (e.g., social protection, educational achievement) potentially derived from school feeding.

Women's perceptions of iron deficiency and anemia prevention and control in eight developing countries.

The World Health Organization estimates that 58% of pregnant women in developing countries are anemic. In spite of the fact that most ministries of health in developing countries have policies to provide pregnant women with iron in a supplement form, maternal anemia prevalence has not declined significantly where large-scale programs have been evaluated. During the period 1991-98, the MotherCare Project and its partners conducted qualitative research to determine the major barriers and facilitators of iron supplementation programs for pregnant women in eight developing countries. Research results were used to develop pilot program strategies and interventions to reduce maternal anemia. Across-region results were examined and some differences were found but the similarity in the way women view anemia and react to taking iron tablets was more striking than differences encountered by region, country or ethnic group. While women frequently recognize symptoms of anemia, they do not know the clinical term for anemia. Half of women in all countries consider these symptoms to be a priority health concern that requires action and half do not. Those women who visit prenatal health services are often familiar with iron supplements, but commonly do not know why they are prescribed. Contrary to the belief that women stop taking iron tablets mainly due to negative side effects, only about one-third of women reported that they experienced negative side effects in these studies. During iron supplementation trials in five of the countries, only about one-tenth of the women stopped taking the tablets due to side effects. The major barrier to effective supplementation programs is inadequate supply. Additional barriers include inadequate counseling and distribution of iron tablets, difficult access and poor utilization of prenatal health care services, beliefs against consuming medications during pregnancy, and in most countries, fears that taking too much iron may cause too much blood or a big baby, making delivery more difficult. Facilitators include women's recognition of improved physical well being with the alleviation of symptoms of anemia, particularly fatigue, a better appetite, increased appreciation of benefits for the fetus, and subsequent increased demand for prevention and treatment of iron deficiency and anemia.

Global indicators of nutritional risk / Global indicators of nutritional risk

A quick reference on the prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition among children in developing countries