Suaahara Impact Evaluation: End-line Survey

NCT05448287 | Completed Phase 3

• 1 other identifier: 103
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 2,480
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Suaahara's primary aim is to reduce the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under 5 years of age and to reduce the prevalence of anemia among women of reproductive age and children 6-59 months of age. For this, the program uses a multi-sectoral approach to achieve four key intermediate results: 1) improved household nutrition, sanitation, and health behaviors; 2) increased use of quality nutrition and health services by women and children; 3) improved access to diverse and nutrient-rich foods by women and children; and 4) accelerated roll-out of the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan (MSNP) through strengthened local governance

Conditions

Nutritional Stunting; Feeding Behavior

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (9)

• Child dietary diversity (Indicators for Assessing Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices)

  Mean score, range 0 to 8, higher is better

  Over the 24 hours of the day before data collection

• Maternal dietary diversity (Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women)

  Mean score, range 0 to 10, higher is better

  Over the 24 hours of the day before data collection

• Stunting

  Prevalence of height or length for age zscore \< -2

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Underweight prevalence

  Prevalence of weight for age zscore \< -2

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Wasting

  Prevalence of weight for length for height zscore \< -2

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Maternal underweight

  Prevalence of body mass index \< 18.5

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Maternal anemia

  Prevalence \< 12 g/dl

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Anemia among children aged 6-59 months

  Prevalence \< 11 g/dl

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Accurate health, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene knowledge and skills among Female Community Health Volunteers and health workers from 52 items

  Prevalence \> 80% correct from 52 items

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

Secondary Outcomes (11)

• Child minimum dietary diversity (Indicators for Assessing Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices)

  Over the 24 hours of the day before data collection

• Maternal minimum dietary diversity (Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women)

  Over the 24 hours of the day before data collection

• Height for age

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Weight for age

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

• Weight for height

  Over the 24 hours of the day of data collection

Study Arms (2)

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Suaahara interventions span health and family planning; nutrition; agriculture/homestead food production; and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Diverse social and behavior change communication interventions are used, primarily to generate demand for access to improved services and to motivate households to adopt optimal health, nutrition, and WASH practices. All Suaahara interventions are supported by a crosscutting theme of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), in part by targeting women and disadvantaged groups and conducting activities that address GESI-related barriers to optimal health, nutrition, and WASH behaviors.

Behavioral: Health and family planning; Behavioral: Nutrition; Behavioral: Agriculture and homestead food production; Behavioral: Water, sanitation, and hygiene

Comparison

NO INTERVENTION

Usual care.

Interventions

Health and family planning BEHAVIORAL

Promotion of health and family planning behaviors

Intervention

Nutrition BEHAVIORAL

Promotion of maternal, infant, and young child feeding behaviors and nutrition

Intervention

Agriculture and homestead food production BEHAVIORAL

Promotion of knowledge and practices about homestead food production

Intervention

Water, sanitation, and hygiene BEHAVIORAL

Promotion of behaviors to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 0 Months - 60 Months
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• At the household level, the primary respondents are mothers of children under 5 years of age from the selected households.
• Other survey respondents include a primary male (or female, if male unavailable) household decision-maker, and a grandmother of children under 5 years of age residing in the household.
• The Female Community Health Volunteer and health workers are also Suaahara beneficiaries, as the program explicitly aims to improve their knowledge and skills.

You may not qualify if:

• None.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of South Carolina: lead
• Helen Keller International: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Helen Keller International

Kathmandu, Nepal

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Frongillo EA, Suresh S, Thapa DK, Cunningham K, Pandey Rana P, Adhikari RP, Kole S, Pun B, Kshetri I, Adhikari DP, Klemm R. Impact of Suaahara, an integrated nutrition programme, on maternal and child nutrition at scale in Nepal. Matern Child Nutr. 2026 Mar;22(1):e13630. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13630. Epub 2024 Feb 11.

  PMID: 38342986 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding Behavior

Interventions

Health; Family Planning Services; Nutritional Status; Agriculture; Water; Sanitation; Hygiene

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior, Animal; Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Population Characteristics; Community Health Services; Health Services; Health Care Facilities Workforce and Services; Reproductive Health Services; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Diet, Food, and Nutrition; Physiological Phenomena; Health Status; Demography; Technology, Industry, and Agriculture; Hydroxides; Alkalies; Inorganic Chemicals; Anions; Ions; Electrolytes; Oxides; Oxygen Compounds; Communicable Disease Control; Public Health Practice; Public Health; Environment and Public Health; Therapeutics

Study Officials

• Edward A Frongillo, PhD

  University of South Carolina

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: phase 3
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: Two-arm quasi-experimental design with baseline and end-line. The baseline and end-line were collected on different households but in the same clusters.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 16, 2022
• First Posted: July 7, 2022
• Study Start: June 17, 2022
• Primary Completion: September 30, 2022
• Study Completion: September 30, 2022
• Last Updated: January 6, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

NE (1)