Empowering women to provide healthy diets for infants and young children, Enhancing Child Nutrition...
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Empowering women to provide healthy diets for infants and young children, the ENAM project in Ghana Grace S. Marquis, PhD McGill University In collaboration with: University of Ghana EK Colecraft, O Sakyi-Dawson, A Lartey, BK Ahunu Iowa State University LM Butler, MB Reddy, HH Jensen, E Huff-Lonergan With funding from: Global Livestock-CRSP/US-AID Iowa State University, University of Ghana, McGill University
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Transcript of Empowering women to provide healthy diets for infants and young children, Enhancing Child Nutrition...
Empowering women to provide healthy diets for infants and young children, the ENAM project in
Ghana Grace S. Marquis, PhD
McGill University
In collaboration with:University of Ghana
EK Colecraft, O Sakyi-Dawson, A Lartey, BK AhunuIowa State University
LM Butler, MB Reddy, HH Jensen, E Huff-Lonergan
With funding from:Global Livestock-CRSP/US-AID
Iowa State University, University of Ghana, McGill University
Agro-business skills Nutrition knowledge
Economics
Animal husbandry, food processing &
storage
Marketinglinkages
Child nutrition knowledge
Cultural beliefs about foods
Household food allocation
Women’s access to income
Animal source foods (ASF) in
children’s diets
Model developed from formative research on children’s diet in Ghana
Project design
16-month study in 3 ecological zones
6 intervention communitiesn=179 households
6 comparison communities n=287 households
Guinea Savannah
Forest Transitional
Coastal Savannah
Intervention1. Microcredit for small businesses
1st 4-month loan = US$50 Groups self-defined & guaranteed Conditional future loans
2. Weekly group meetingsEntrepreneurial education
Topics: marketing, customer care, financial literacy Practice: skits on learned lessons
Nutrition educationTopics: benefits of ASF, balanced meal, hygienePractice: cooking competition
Repayment of loan & savings deposits
3. Additional trainingTopics: poultry raising, fish smoking
Women’s perception of improvement in their businesses
“I know I am doing well and am more successful than other members. I believe in the project. I follow their lessons well and practice most of the things we are taught”.
Business expanded Business diversified0
20
40
60
80
100InterventionComparison
Perc
enta
ge (%
) * p<0.01
*
*
Homiah et al. AJFAND 2012Butler et al. AJFAND 2012
Women’s improved nutrition knowledge“… I did not know that meat or eggs were good for children and would make them grow well. In our culture, meat is usually not given to children, so anytime I prepared food with meat, I would give the meat to the adults… Now I know meat and eggs will make a child grow well and strong.”
Change in knowledge score 0
20
40
60
80
100 Intervention Comparison
Perc
enta
ge (%
)
p<0.05
Butler et al. AJFAND 2012Christian et al. PAA conference 2013
Children’s improved quality of diet
Children in intervention households consumed 53% more ASF than those in comparison households (p<0.001), primarily reflecting more ASF purchased from the market Meats Organ
meatsPoultry Shellfish Eggs Milk/
products0
20
40
60
80
100Intervention Comparison Intervention Comparison
Perc
ent o
f chi
ldre
n co
nsum
ing
(%)
*
**
* *
*
**
*
Marquis & Colecraft. Food Nutr Bull 2014
* p<0.05 group differences
Homiah et al. AJFAND 2012
Baseline Endline
Children’s improved nutritional status
Marquis et al. J Nutr 2015
Series1
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1Intervention Comparison
Z-sc
ore
at m
axim
um g
roup
diff
eren
ce
Weight-for-age
BMI-for-age
Height-for-age
+0.32*
+0.36*
+0.19*
*p<0.05
KEY MESSAGE
Interventions must address inadequate knowledge and skills, and economic barriers for women to become empowered and be able to
address the nutrition needs of their young children.
