Child dietary quality in rural Nepal: Effectiveness of a community-level development intervention |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, USA;2. Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA;3. Heifer International Nepal in Katmandu, Nepal;4. Heifer International in Little Rock, AR, USA;1. World Bank Ghana Office, Ghana;2. Development Economics Research Group, World Bank, 1818 H St. NW, Washington DC 20433, United States;3. Department of Economics, University of Maryland, 3115C Tydings Hall, College Park, MD 20742, United States;1. Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Québec, Canada;2. School of Psychology, Université Laval, Québec, Canada;1. WorldFish, Jalan Batu Maung, Batu Maung, 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia;2. Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition, 677 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA;3. Tufts University, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, 150 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111, USA;4. The University of Queensland, School of Public Health, Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4006, Australia;5. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – CSIRO, Agriculture Flagship, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia;6. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Via delle Terme di Caralla, Rome 00153, Italy;7. University of Washington, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, College of the Environment, 3707 Brooklyn Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA;1. Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, 114 Curtis Street, Somerville, MA, USA;2. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, United States |
| |
| Abstract: | Nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions have the potential to improve child dietary quality in rural households, as evidenced by a growing body of work which concurrently measures agricultural and nutrition indicators. Our objective was to investigate whether children in rural farming communities of Nepal participating in a community-level, nutrition-sensitive development intervention had improved dietary quality compared with children living in non-participating matched rural communities. Six rural communities of Nepal where livelihoods were predominantly agricultural were selected to participate in the phased implementation of a community-level development intervention by Heifer International. Households and children in each community were surveyed at baseline, and follow-up surveys were implemented every six months for twenty-four months. Detailed data on food consumption for children older than 6 months of age were collected using a 24 h recall for 17 foods and food groups; parents responded for children. A difference-in-differences model with household fixed-effects and an analysis of covariance model were used to analyze the resulting panel data. Results indicated that the impacts of the intervention varied by agro-ecological region and by season. In the Hills region, which is poorer on average and more conducive to livestock production, children who had received the intervention for two years were 2.2 times as likely to have consumed food from an additional food group, 1.27 times as likely to have achieved minimum dietary diversity and 1.38 times as likely to have consumed animal source foods as children who received the intervention for only one year. In the Terai region, which is more conducive to crop production, there was no significant change in dietary quality attributable to the intervention. These results provide evidence that particularly vulnerable families can take advantage of community-level development activities. Given that the effects of community-level development activities were disparate across communities within the same country, we conclude that tailoring development activities for particular locations is necessary for success. |
| |
| Keywords: | Child dietary diversity Smallholder farms Impact evaluation Nepal Animal source foods Community based interventions |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
