Nutrition Education Intervention to Enhance Complementary Feeding Practices Among Infants in Southern Ethiopia

Summary

Child undernutrition is a worldwide public health problem that has persisted in African countries. For instance, the most recently reported prevalence rates of stunting (38%), underweight (24%), and wasting (10%) among children under the age of five in Ethiopia is higher than the global prevalence. The causes of undernutrition are classified in the following manner: immediate causes, such as inadequate dietary intakes; underlying causes, such as household food insecurity and inadequate care and feeding practices; and basic causes, which involve the household's inadequate access to education, employment, and income, among others. Evidence has demonstrated that nutrition education interventions (NEI) may influence both underlying and immediate causes of child undernutrition. For instance, nutrition education interventions have the potential of preventing the underlying causes of child undernutrition by improving mothers' knowledge in care and feeding practices, and further improving the quality and quantity of dietary intake, which is considered an immediate cause of child undernutrition. Moreover, nutrition education interventions designed to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, such as dietary diversity, frequency, and adequacy, are considered a high impact strategy that may substantially reduce stunting. Preliminary data from Hawassa University (collaborating institution in this project) demonstrated that approximately 86% of the children residing in Arsi Negele, Wondo Genet, and Dale districts in Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' (SNNP) regions in Ethiopia do not receive adequate complementary feeding practices. Such lack of optimal complementary feeding practices may compromise a child's growth, development, and survival. Therefore, there is a critical need for improving child complementary feeding practices to promote their well-being and adequate nutritional status. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to improve child feeding practices and related nutritional status by improving the mother's knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of complementary feeding practices for their children aged six to 23 months in three woredas located in Oromia and SNNP. It is hypothesized that after the NEI mothers will improve their children' dietary diversity, frequency and adequacy.

Conditions

• Infant Malnutrition

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Nutrition education intervention to enhance complementary feeding practices

The intervention consist of a six-week nutrition education intervention developed following the DESIGN procedure and the Socio-Cognitive Theory. The intervention consisted of six three-hour weekly sessions that covered topics such as 1) importance and benefits of exclusive and continuing breastfeeding; 2) nutrition for lactating mothers; 3) importance and benefits of complementary feeding practices; 4) risks for starting complementary feeding too early or too late; 5) complementary feeding practices for each age group (6-8, 9-11, and 12-24); 6) importance and benefits of dietary diversity; 7) importance of animal-source foods; 8) importance and benefits of following water, sanitation, and hygiene practices; 9) food safety practices when preparing meals; and 10) the recommended hand-washing protocol. Each lesson was designed to provide a lecture, a discussion using counseling cards, a cooking demonstration with tasting session, and key messages.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Kansas State University

  collaborator OTHER

• Hawassa University

  collaborator OTHER

• Texas Tech University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Mary W Murimi, PhD · Texas Tech University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Months

Max Age

23 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-12-02

Primary Completion

2020-09-30

Completion

2020-09-30

Countries

• Ethiopia

Study Locations