Anemia
Conditions
Keywords
MNP, AAMA program, Nepal, HFP, IYCF, BCC
Brief summary
Helen Keller International (HKI), the ministry of health and population, and ministry of agriculture and cooperatives, of Nepal and local non-governmental organizations (NGO) partners are currently implementing a USAID funded Action Against Malnutrition Through Agriculture (AAMA) project in Baitadi district located in far Western development region of Nepal. HKI is undertaking this study within the AAMA project to test whether providing micro-nutrient powders (MNPs) in a programmatic context along with homestead food production (HFP) and an intensive community level Infant and Young Child Feeding Behavior change communication (IYCF-BCC) intervention will have a greater impact on reducing anemia and improving growth in young children than only providing the HFP and IYCF-BCC intervention without MNPs or a control with no intervention.
Detailed description
The AAMA project uses the homestead food production (HFP) model that focuses on increasing households year round access to nutritious food as a platform to deliver a proven essential nutrition actions (ENA) related messages to household with children less than 2 years old. The AAMA project seeks to examine the effects of household level HFP on malnutrition. So the recipient and other partners wishes to undertake a study to explore a plausible delivery mechanism for MNPs along with HFP and intensive community level IYCF-BCC and their impact on infant/child growth and anemia. The study is a cluster randomized controlled trial with a three arm factorial design. The trial involve 330 randomly selected children aged 6-9 months at the time of enrollment (n=110 per each of the three study arms). MNPs distributed through FCHVs to 110 children selected from communities that already have the HFP and IYCF-BCC intervention. This group of children will be compared on outcome parameters for anemia, growth (stunting, underweight and wasting) and infections (diarrhea, fever and cough) to a similar sub-set of children (n=110) who receive only the HFP and IYCF-BCC intervention and to a third sub-set of control children of similar age (n=110) who are not receiving either of these interventions. Children aged 6-9 months were chosen for the study because this age range captures the recommended age for introduction of complementary foods to children and our chosen age group also falls within the 0-24 month age range which is considered the period of rapid growth and development and therefore period of highest nutrient requirements in children.
Interventions
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTMNP (micro-nutrient powders)
MNP is added to explore the additional value of MNP in existing AAMA program
OTHERAAMA project activities (HFP and IYCF BCC)
This is the existing AAMA program
Sponsors
University of California, Davis
Helen Keller International
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
FACTORIAL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
6 Months to 23 Months
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Children 6-9 months of age during enrollment time * Mothers who want to enroll their children in study
Exclusion criteria
* Severe anemia * Children age below six months and age over 23 months during study time
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Anemia | One year | All three arms anemia status will be compared after one year of MNP distribution (assess the additional value of MNP) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Impact on growth of children | one year | Assess the growth of children (wasting, underweigh and stunting)after one year of MNP distribution (MNP distribution started in March 2011) |
Countries
Nepal
Outcome results
None listed