Clinical Trial: Preventing Malnutrition in Children Under Two Years of Age Approach

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Strengthening and Evaluating the "Preventing Malnutrition in Children Under Two Years of Age Approach" (PM2A) in Guatemala and Burundi

Brief Summary:

A study conducted by IFPRI in Haiti provided the first programmatic evidence, using a cluster randomized evaluation design, that preventing child undernutrition in children under two years of age (PM2A) through an integrated program providing food rations, BCC and preventive health and nutrition services is both feasible and highly effective. The study's principal aim was to compare a newly designed preventive approach with the traditional (recuperative) food assisted MCHN program approach, and therefore included only two comparison groups: one group of communities that was randomly assigned to the preventive approach and another group assigned to the recuperative approach. For logistical and financial reasons, the study did not include a randomized control group receiving no intervention.

The Haiti study design was well-suited to achieve its main goal - i.e. to test whether the preventive approach was more effective than the recuperative approach at preventing child undernutrition - but it left a number of questions unanswered.

The present study will address several of these questions, which will allow to further refine the PM2A approach, facilitate its replication in different contexts, and maximize its impact and cost-effectiveness in future programming. The study will be conducted in Guatemala and Burundi. The key research objectives are:

  1. Impact and cost effectiveness: Assess the impact and cost effectiveness of PM2A on child nutritional status.
  2. Optimal composition and size of food rations in PM2A: Assess the differential and absolute impact of varying the size and types of foods incorporated in the food ration of the PM2A. More specifically, assess the differential effect of different sizes of family fo

    Detailed Summary:
    Sponsor: International Food Policy Research Institute

    Current Primary Outcome: child nutritional status [ Time Frame: Burundi: 2 years; Guatemala: at pregnancy, 1 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo ]

    Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

    Current Secondary Outcome:

    • household food security [ Time Frame: Burundi: after 2 years; Guatemala: at pregnancy, 1 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo ]
    • household food and non-food consumption [ Time Frame: Burundi: after 2 years; Guatemala: at pregnancy, 1 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo ]
    • maternal knowledge on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and health [ Time Frame: Burundi: after 2 years; Guatemala: at pregnancy, 1 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo ]
    • attitudes towards IYCF and health [ Time Frame: Burundi: after 2 years; Guatemala: at pregnancy, 1 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo ]
    • morbidity [ Time Frame: Burundi: after 2 years; Guatemala: at pregnancy, 1 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo ]
    • health care seeking behavior [ Time Frame: Burundi: after 2 years; Guatemala: at pregnancy, 1 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo ]


    Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

    Information By: International Food Policy Research Institute

    Dates:
    Date Received: February 17, 2010
    Date Started: April 2010
    Date Completion:
    Last Updated: February 23, 2016
    Last Verified: January 2013