Effects of Participatory Agriculture and Nutrition Education Intervention on Child Growth in Northern Malawi
R. Bezner Kerr, P.R. Berti and L. Shumba
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Abstract:
Objective: To investigate whether children in households involved in a participatory agriculture and nutrition intervention had improved growth compared to children in matched comparable households and whether level of involvement and length of time in the project had an effect on child growth.
Design: A prospective quasi-experimental study design comparing baseline and follow-up data in ‘intervention’ villages with matched subjects in ‘comparison’ villages. Mixed model analyses were conducted on standardized child growth scores (weight and height for age Z-scores), controlling for child age and testing for effects of length of time and intensity of village involvement in intervention.
Setting: A participatory agriculture and nutrition project run by a hospital aimed to improve child nutritional status with smallholder farmers in a rural area in northern Malawi. Agricultural interventions involved intercropping legumes and visits from farmer researchers, while nutrition education involved home visits and group meetings.
Subjects: Participants in intervention villages were self-selected, and control participants were matched by child age and household food security status. Nine surveys were conducted, taking 3838 height and weight measures of U5 children over a six-year period.
Results: There was an improvement over initial conditions of up to 0.6 in weight-for-age Z-score (from -0.4+/-0.5 to 0.3+/-0.4 ) for the children in the longest involved villages, and an improvement over initial conditions of 0.8 in weight-for-age Z-score for the children in the most intensely involved villages (from -0.6+/-0.4 to 0.2+/-0.4).
Conclusions: Long-term efforts to improve child nutrition through participatory agricultural interventions had a significant effect on child growth.
