Community Development and Nutrition Education in Banke District, Nepal: Effect on Child Health and Growth

NCT03516396 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: AID-OAA-L-1-00006
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,500
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Heifer Project International is a globally active NGO with more than 400 projects in over 30 countries. The organization uses the introduction of livestock and related training in the development of social capital as tools for poverty alleviation, citizen empowerment, and community development. In a pilot project conducted in 2009-2012, these activities were found to promote some improvement in child health and nutritional status. However, robust enhancement of these important indicators was not observed. Heifer now intends to investigate the efficacy of a nutrition and child health education program in amplifying these effects.

Conditions

Malnutrition

Keywords

Nepal; child growth; nutrition education; community development

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change from baseline in prevalence of child wasting

  measurement of child's weight in kg and height in cm. These measurements will be converted respectively to weight z scores, height z scores and then weight-for-height z scores using World Health Organization standards. The proportion of wasted children (z score \<-2) will be determined.

  baseline, and then at each study visit (every 6 months over 36 months)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• child health

  at each study visit (every 6 months over 36 months)

• household socioeconomic (SES) status

  at each study visit (every 6 months over 36 months)

• child developmental status

  at one study visit each year, starting 12 months after randomization, then annually

Study Arms (3)

Training Plus

EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention: Community Development Training plus enhanced community development activities

Behavioral: Training Plus

Control

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

No inputs

Behavioral: No Inputs then Community development and training

Training Only

EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention: Training Training Only (livestock management and child nutrition)

Behavioral: Training Only

Interventions

Training Plus BEHAVIORAL

Training plus enhanced community development activities

Training Plus

Training Only BEHAVIORAL

Training Only (livestock management and child nutrition) for 24 months then add community development inputs

Training Only

No Inputs then Community development and training BEHAVIORAL

No inputs for 24 months then add community development and training

Control

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 1 Month - 12 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• child in household in designated study area of Nepal, age 1 month to 12 years
• family agrees to enrollment

You may not qualify if:

• parent refuse to enroll child

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Tufts University: lead
• Heifer Project International: collaborator

Related Publications (1)

• Miller LC, Neupane S, Joshi N, Lohani M, Rogers BL, Neupane S, Ghosh S, Webb P. Multisectoral community development in Nepal has greater effects on child growth and diet than nutrition education alone. Public Health Nutr. 2020 Jan;23(1):146-161. doi: 10.1017/S136898001900260X. Epub 2019 Sep 23.

  PMID: 31544735 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Malnutrition

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Study Officials

• Laurie C Miller, MD

  Tufts University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor of Pediatrics

Model Details: Randomized cluster design of households in rural Nepal. Groups will be randomized to receive either: (a) Training Only (livestock management and child nutrition), (b) Training plus enhanced community development activities, or (c) no inputs (Control). After 24 months, groups A and C will receive community development inputs

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 9, 2018
• First Posted: May 4, 2018
• Study Start: July 1, 2013
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2019
• Study Completion: December 31, 2019
• Last Updated: July 15, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-07