Building Capacity for Sustainable Livelihoods and Health

Summary

Despite recent economic growth in Ghana, the prevalence of childhood malnutrition remains high. Wasting prevalence affected 29% among 6- to 8-months-old infants in 2008. Poor nutrition contributes to about one-third of child mortality, diminishes cognitive development, and is a major determinant of maternal mortality. The specific objectives of the 5-year project are to: (1) enhance human capacity of government, civil, and private institutions through improvement of knowledge and skills of personnel in agriculture, nutrition and health, entrepreneurship, and pedagogy; (2) identify information needs of local institutions that are not presently met and develop a representative and sustainable longitudinal data system to support evidence-based decision-making in programs; (3) increase vulnerable households' access to quality services in agriculture/fisheries, nutrition and health, and finance; (4) implement integrated intervention activities to improve infant and young child and adolescent nutrition outcomes; and (5) examine differential benefits of the interventions for diverse vulnerable populations. The project comprises two major activities: part I - the creation of a longitudinal data system to support evidence-based decision-making in programs, and part II - the implementation of intervention activities to improve nutrition outcomes.

The survey will include demographic, socioeconomic, health, diet, and nutritional status information collected annually from a representative same of 1500 households with infants (0-12 mo) and 1500 households with adolescents (9-12 y). The data will be analyzed and presented rapidly each year to district program and policy leaders to assist them in developing their activity plans for the following year.

Conditions

• Malnutrition
• Anemia

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Nutrition and agriculture

The intervention includes two components: (1) nutrition education on infant and young child nutrition, and (2) agriculture and small animal husbandry intervention to increase women's income and the accessibility of animal source foods for infants and young children.

BEHAVIORAL

Iron-rich food & business literacy

The intervention includes two components: (1) a behavioural change intervention to improve school meals and increase the available iron in adolescents' diets, (2) savings \& business literacy program for young female adolescents to encourage them to stay in school.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Canada

  collaborator OTHER

• World Vision

  collaborator OTHER

• McGill University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Grace S Marquis, PhD · McGill University

• Esi K Colecraft, PhD · University of Ghana

• Bridgett Aidams, PhD · World Vision

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

1 Day

Max Age

15 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-11-30

Primary Completion

2018-03-31

Completion

2018-08-05

Countries

• Canada
• Ghana

Study Locations