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Women's Work in Agriculture and Infant Nutrition

NCT03406182 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 1161

Last updated 2018-01-23

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Background Over the last 10 years there has been an increase in the female agriculture labour force, in Pakistan, resulting in a feminisation of agriculture; which could have either a positive or negative impact on maternal and young child nutrition. It could have a positive impact through increased female wage earnings that improve her bargaining/decision-making power within the household. Women are more likely than men to make pro-nutrition choices with regards to household expenditure. Conversely, women's involvement in agricultural work may have a negative impact on infant or maternal nutrition by reducing time available for child care, through increased expenditure of physical energy without compensatory increases in food consumption or exposure to harmful toxins present in pesticides and other chemicals used in farming. Understanding the dynamics of these pathways, in a specific context, is important to ensure agriculture programmes and policies do not disadvantage women or their children.

Overall aim To provide insights into positive and negative pathways between women's work in agriculture and maternal and child nutritional status, in different agriculture workload contexts, to inform agriculture interventions and policies in Pakistan.

Specific Objectives

1. To determine whether the number of hours a mother participates in agriculture work is associated with maternal body mass index and infant nutrition.
2. To identify factors that modify the influence of maternal participation in agriculture work on maternal and infant nutritional status.

Study Design A cohort study was conducted from September 2015 in irrigated rural areas of Pakistan. Infant-mother dyads were recruited when the infant was between 2 and 12 weeks of age inclusive. Anthropometric measurements (maternal and infant height / recumbent length and weight), interviewer administered questionnaires and spot observations were collected at recruitment (Time 1) and again when the infants were between 9-15 months of age (Time 2). The interviewer administered questionnaires were collected from each infant's mother (or the household head if the father was not present). A one page questionnaire was also completed at recruitment to record the numbers of women who agreed to participate in the study, the number who were approached but were not recruited into the study and the reasons they were not eligible to participate or their reasons for refusal.

Conditions

  • Malnutrition

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
2 Weeks
Max Age
12 Weeks
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2015-12-30
Primary Completion
2016-02-02
Completion
2017-02-01

Countries

  • Pakistan
  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03406182 on ClinicalTrials.gov