Clinical Trial: Leveraging an Existing Large-scale Safe Water Program to Deliver Nutrition Messages at a Low Marginal Cost

Study Status: Active, not recruiting
Recruit Status: Active, not recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Leveraging an Existing Large-scale Safe Water Program to Deliver Nutrition Messages at a Low Marginal Cost

Brief Summary: The investigators are seeking to overcome the dual challenges of under-nutrition and diarrhea using an existing safe water supply platform to deliver nutrition information to targeted groups in Western Kenya. Using a randomized evaluation, investigators will determine the impact on nutrition status and practices of delivering nutrition information. The evaluation results will enable Evidence Action to make strategic decisions regarding the potential scale-up of the combined program across Kenya.

Detailed Summary:

Evidence Action's Dispensers for Safe Water program currently provides access to safe water for two million people. The program would be able to leverage the existence of this service delivery platform to provide promoters with training on proper nutrition and methods for delivering these messages to target groups.

The intervention is a home visiting program that will provide nutrition advice on complementary feeding to households with children aged 6-24 months. Two types of home visits will be evaluated, a 'traditional visit mode' in which the child's mother receives the visit; and a 'couples visit mode' in which the promoter attempts to involve both the father and mother.

Households in the control group will also receive home visits by promoters but the content of the visit will be restricted to safe water. The same information on safe water will also be provided to households in the treatment group. Hence, the evaluation will measure the additional effect of providing nutrition information on top of information on safe water.

Promoters will provide advice on nutrition and food hygiene to target households, according to criteria established by Evidence Action. Following the Guiding Principles for Complementary Feeding of the Breastfed Child (PAHO/WHO 2003), the intervention will include information on the maintenance of breastfeeding, safe/hygienic preparation and storage of complementary foods, amount of complementary food needed, food consistency, meal frequency and energy density, nutrient content of complementary foods, and feeding after illness. The home visits will be modelled on the MaiMwana Infant Feeding intervention (http://www.maimwana.malawi.net/MaiMwana/Home.html) that has been taking place in Mchinji (Malawi) since 2005.

Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome:

• Knowledge of child nutrition issues measured using a structured questionnaire [ Time Frame: Up to 18 months ]
  Measured using a structured questionnaire
• Child nutritional intake measured using a 7 day Food Frequency Questionnaire [ Time Frame: Up to 18 months ]
  Measured using a 7 day Food Frequency Questionnaire
• Child's age when breastfeeding stops measured using a structured questionnaire [ Time Frame: Up to 18 months ]
  Measured using a structured questionnaire
• A composite index of other anthropometric indicators (includes child's weight for age z-score, child's mid-upper arm circumference, and child's head circumference) [ Time Frame: Up to 18 months ]
  The composite index will include child's weight for age z-score, child's mid-upper arm circumference, and child's head circumference.
• Probability that the child suffers from bipedal oedema [ Time Frame: Up to 18 months ]

Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: Institute for Fiscal Studies

Dates:
Date Received: April 14, 2015
Date Started: May 2015
Date Completion: December 2016
Last Updated: February 23, 2016
Last Verified: February 2016