None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Despite increases in agricultural production over the past two decades, malnutrition rates in children have not diminished significantly in many developing countries. Undernutrition affects health, physical and cognitive development capacity in children as well as productivity in adulthood. Recent reviews indicate that agricultural research interventions have had little impact on childhood nutrition, with poor research project design being a contributing factor to this disappointing outcome. Food and nutrition security are particularly crucial in Tanzania and Zambia where the national prevalence of stunting (chronic restriction of growth) in children under five years of age has been estimated to be 42% and 45%, respectively. Sustainably addressing the nutrition component of food security in Tanzania and Zambia is critical and was raised as a priority by senior government personnel in both countries. Also, as research indicates that resources under the control of women are more likely to be used to support the education and nutrition of children, we are testing if improving women’s production of family poultry and crops can have a beneficial impact on children’s overall nutritional status and health. We aim to enhance traditional village chicken-crop systems as a sustainable solution to the ongoing nutritional challenges in Africa. Rural communities that rely on rain fed crops often go through severe hunger periods just prior to the major harvesting season when their stored grains have been exhausted. These significant peaks and troughs in household food availability are reduced when there is diversity in family farming activities. By improving village poultry health and welfare, families have greater access to poultry meat and eggs which are a source of high quality protein, bioavailable micronutrients and income. Poultry manure can also contribute to increased soil fertility for the production of indigenous vegetables at the household level, further diversifying the range of foods eaten.
Interventions
This is a cluster randomised controlled trial. Interventions include two components:
(1) Community-based Newcastle disease control programs
Members of participating communities, selected in consultation with local leaders, will participate in a three-day theoretical and practical training workshop to prepare them to work as “community poultry vaccinators”. Workshops will be led by government personnel, with tertiary qualifications in animal health and production, and experience in the trainin
This is a cluster randomised controlled trial. Interventions include two components: (1) Community-based Newcastle disease control programs Members of participating communities, selected in consultation with local leaders, will participate in a three-day theoretical and practical training workshop to prepare them to work as “community poultry vaccinators”. Workshops will be led by government personnel, with tertiary qualifications in animal health and production, and experience in the training program in question and in approaches to adult learning who have participated in initial master trainer workshops led by USyd veterinary personnel. The thermotolerant I-2 Newcastle disease vaccine (produced by Tanzania Vaccine Institute in Tanzania and Central Veterinary Research Institute in Zambia) will be administered to chickens via eyedrop on a fee-for-service basis, during vaccination campaigns conducted every four months. (2) Strategic interventions to improve crop production and reduce crop losses Analysis of existing farming systems and participatory discussions with community members will inform a series of crop interventions within each project cluster, according to identified constraints to agricultural production. Interventions such as improved seed varieties and crop diversity, storage methods and cultivation and weeding practices will be demonstrated in centralised farming plots, presented during training workshops and made available to community members. One two-day training workshops will be held in each project cluster, led by government agricultural officers, with involvement of local agricultural extensionists. No intervention will be applied to humans. Communities will be randomised to receive or not receive village chicken ND vaccination campaigns in the first year and a crop intervention in the second year. For ethical and logistical reasons interventions will be offered to “control” (delayed intervention) communities after a delay of 12 months.
Sponsors
Associate Professor Robyn Alders
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
No minimum to 24 Months
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Children aged under 24 months of age at the time of enrolment, from households which currently keep chickens or which have kept chickens in the previous 2 years and intend to keep chickens again in the future, and which intend to reside within the project site for the duration of the study.
Exclusion criteria
Multiple children meeting criteria for inclusion (i.e. under 24 months of age at the time of enrolment, from households which currently keep chickens or which have kept chickens in the previous 2 years and intend to keep chickens again in the future, and which intend to reside within the project site for the duration of the study) within a single household. In this case, the youngest child will be enrolled. Households unwilling to participate in the study.
Outcome results
None listed