Benefits of a nutrition book bag program.
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Food-based nutrition interventions, including kitchen gardens and nutrition education, offer a potentially sustainable approach to reducing multiple nutritional deficiencies, but they have been poorly evaluated in developing countries. In a poor region of the terai (the flat, subtropical agricultural region that borders on India) in rural Nepal, we developed and evaluated the impact of a nutrition program added to the Market Access for Rural Development (MARD) Project. The primary objective of the MARD Project was to augment household income by increasing the production of high-economic-value crops. The objective of the nutrition program was to increase vitamin A and iron intakes by promoting kitchen gardens (training, technical assistance, and seed distribution) and nutrition education. One-third of the kitchen-garden program participants also attended nutrition education or agricultural training sessions that were part of the MARD Project. The program was evaluated after 36 months by a cross-sectional nutrition survey in 430 MARD households with kitchen gardens and 389 non-MARD control households. The lack of knowledge about nutrition, including the causes, prevention, and treatment of night-blindness and anemia, was remarkable. However, compared with control households, the kitchen-gardens group had significantly more nutrition knowledge (38% vs. 13% knew one of the causes of night-blindness, and 17% vs. 3% knew one of the causes of anemia), were more likely to feed special complementary foods to infants and to preserve food, and consumed more of 16 types of home-produced micronutrient-rich vegetables and fruits. Although the cross-sectional nature of the study limits our ability to attribute these differences to the program, we observed a striking lack of nutrition knowledge in these communities, and a clear opportunity to increase the intake of vitamin A through home production of vitamin A-rich plants.
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Effective programs to promote improved dietary practices among low-income families depend on the motivation and performance of front-line nutrition educators, yet little is known about the work context experienced by nutrition workers or how their perceptions of work context relate to program effectiveness. This research examined the perceived work context of nutrition educators, a multidimensional construct developed through formative research, in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in New York State. We proposed that work context, program management, and program and educator characteristics would be related to program effectiveness (reported behavior change among participants). A state-wide survey of paraprofessional Community Nutrition Educators (CNEs) in 30 program sites was conducted and analyzed in relation to program monitoring data. Greater behavior change was reported by participants in sites whose CNEs gave positive ratings to the value of EFNEP (P < 0.02) and to the managerial practices of their supervisors (P < 0.001). To our knowledge, this is the first time that an association was demonstrated between perceived work context at the front lines and effectiveness of a nutrition program. Higher behavior change scores were also reported at sites in which a greater proportion of participants received individual rather than group instruction (P < 0.001). Associations between participants' reported behavior change and CNEs' perceptions of program value and program management suggest that improvements in these areas could enhance nutrition program success.
In 1969, the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health made recommendations to government to improve the nation's posture relating to nutriture. Among these were specific calls for improved nutrition education programs, including the use of the mass media, and improvement in ways of meeting the food needs of low-income families. Congress has since passed legislation addressing some of the recommendations, and the USDA has expanded and initiated new programs to implement them. These include the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), Special Supplemental Feeding Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Food Stamp program, Commodity Supplemental Food program, and the Nutrition Education and Training program (NET). The USDA has set forth eight objectives to be met in the 1980s as it moves ahead as the "lead" agency for nutrition research, Extension, and nutrition education.
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A nutrition game designed for the Food Policy and Nutrition Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to aid in planning national nutrition education programs in Third World countries is described. The Simulated Nutrition System Game allows high-level ministerial staff in developing countries to discuss, via a common language created by SNUS I, the issues, problems, and complexities of national nutrition programs.
Past evaluation research has documented improved nutritional outcomes resulting from participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). However, these evaluations have not examined the program from the clients' perspective, nor have they examined the independent effect of the nutrition education component. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively and qualitatively examine client satisfaction with the nutrition education component of the California WIC program. The methodology consisted of two phases. During phase I of the study (the quantitative component), participants completed Client Satisfaction Surveys immediately following attendance of one nutrition class. During phase II (the qualitative component), four focus groups were conducted. All subjects were participants in the California WIC program. Client Satisfaction Surveys were completed by 2138 participants, and the focus groups included 29 participants. Results from both phases of the study indicated that client satisfaction with the nutrition education component of the California WIC program was high. Between 80% and 95% of participants responded positively to five satisfaction questions, and focus group participants unanimously agreed that the nutrition education was an essential component of the program. Hispanic participants were more likely than non-Hispanic Caucasians, Asians, or African Americans to respond positively to three of the five satisfaction questions. For two of the questions, the frequency of positive responses increased as age increased and decreased as education level increased. A small segment of clients reported some dissatisfaction by responding negatively to one or more of the satisfaction questions (4% to 20% of respondents). Some suggestions for improvement were made by survey respondents. Identification of some WIC participants who are not completely satisfied with the nutrition education that they have received, paired with differences in satisfaction across demographic variables, suggests the need for a personalized approach to WIC nutrition education.
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Rigorous assessments of program quality are uncommon in developing countries. We evaluated the quality of the two-week, volunteer-facilitated, caregiver-child rehabilitation "hearth," or nutrition education and rehabilitation program (NERP), sessions in Save the Children's integrated nutrition program in Viet Nam. Field workers observed attendance, food contribution, food preparation, meal consumption, health message delivery, hygiene, and weighing at 240 NERP days at 59 NERP centers during seven months of implementation. Participation in cooking NERP meals (75.8%), washing mothers' and children's hands (75.7% and 81.6%, respectively), and weighing (74.5% on days 1 and 12) were high, but attendance rates (50.3%), food contributions (20.3%), and health message delivery (20.0%) were lower than expected, all with wide variation among communes, ecology, NERP day, and NERP round. Contrary to protocol, food was often delivered to malnourished children who stayed at home to accommodate caregivers' workloads and other constraints. While home-delivery of food prevented caregivers from learning from each other in a group, it did bring "tangible messages" (i.e., a large serving size of a new food) to the doorstep. Health volunteers were wise to stress active learning over repetitive message delivery. In summary, these NERPs were probably typical of previous NERPs although comparable quality measures are lacking. Despite imperfect implementation, the NERP's active-learning and local problem-solving helped achieve measurable impact on growth, diet, morbidity, and empowerment despite uncommon program challenges, such as uncharacteristically low baseline levels of malnutrition and high population dispersion. Regular quality monitoring may enhance impact even further.
The early postnatal interplay between nutrition, growth patterns, and metabolic and epigenetic phenomena is crucial in determining subsequent health; health that extends through the lifetime of the individual and very likely even into subsequent generations. Recent research in the area of postnatal nutrition and its relationship to adult health, with an emphasis on the appropriate-for-gestational-age infant who is born prematurely and who undergoes growth delays, is presented. Select studies in animals, pertinent to understanding the mechanisms of how early postnatal under- and overnutrition might affect adult health and propagate to subsequent generations, are reviewed. Scientifically based approaches to administering postnatal nutrition designed to improve outcomes and areas where future investigations are needed are presented.
The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 outlined a number of requirements for nutrition monitoring and research relevant to nutrition monitoring needs of today and tomorrow. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) along with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are charged with carrying out the requirements. The Act legally established the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Program and numerous activities including development and implementation of a Ten-Year Comprehensive Plan and formation of the Interagency Board for Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research. Both requirements serve as the basis for planning and coordinating the activities of 22 Federal agencies that either conduct nutrition monitoring surveys and surveillance activities or are major users of nutrition monitoring data. As an advisory mechanism to both USDA and HHS, the law required establishment of a 9-member National Nutrition Monitoring Advisory Council. Progress and future activity plans for the Nutrition Monitoring Program are discussed.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine changes in the nutritional status of Guatemalan refugee children under six years of age, who lived in Mexico between 1982 and 1996, under various nutrition-related programs implemented during that period. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A comparative analysis of 4 cross-sectional anthropometric studies performed in Chiapas (1982, 1989), Quintana Roo (1989) and Campeche and Quintana Roo in 1996. Malnutrition prevalence by weight/age and height/age indicators was calculated. Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were estimated. The implemented programs to improve nutritional status and health conditions are described. RESULTS: In 1982, high rates of malnutrition and mortality prevailed among refugee children. In 1989 some had been transferred to Campeche and Quintana Roo and others stayed in Chiapas. Their situation had improved and remained so until 1996. CONCLUSIONS: The implemented programs were successful to control the emergency and prevent new crises. However they only managed to maintain similar conditions for the refugees as those which prevail among the Mexican indians.
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