Impact of an Integrated Community-Based Nutrition Intervention on the Growth of Under five children in Abia State

The "critical window" for obtaining optimal growth and development is from birth to two years old. Under-fives’ growth is significantly impacted by infection, poor child feeding techniques, and inadequate quality and quantity of supplemental foods. In underdeveloped nations, one-third of children under the age of five are stunted, and many of them are also micronutrient deficient. Ensuring appropriate supplementary feeding can reduce an estimated 6% of under-five mortalities. This study is a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial that aim to improve maternal knowledge, attitudes and practice regarding child feeing practices through strategies such as mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurement, food incentives and behaviour change communication (BCC).
In this community-based randomized controlled trial study, the participants were assigned to two arms; the control group (Arm 1) and the intervention group (Arm 2). The intervention group will receive a package of interventions that include, food incentives, micronutrient powder to fortify children’s food at home, child feeding counselling, behaviour change communication and the Basic package of Nutrition Services (BPNS) through a peer support group meeting activity. The control group receives routine Basic Packages of Nutrition services provided by the community Volunteers. A baseline survey is conducted before the intervention while an endline survey will be conducted after the intervention; Data collection is performed monthly on children’s MUAC status, food incentive utilization, child feeding and support meeting attendance. The intervention will be conducted over a period of 18 months, with data collected at baseline and endline.
This trial aims to explore whether an integrated nutrition intervention can mitigate childhood stunting during the critical window of opportunity in rural Umuahia South and Bende LGAs of Abia State Nigeria. The findings might offer solid support for efforts to increase children's linear growth in underdeveloped nations.