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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Karen Van Roekel, MA, MPH, Performance and Results Monitoring, BASICS, 1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209, (703) 312-6812, kvanroekel@basics.org, Lydia d'Alois, PhD, Operations and Evaluation Research, BASICS, 1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209, and Marcia Griffiths, MSc, Nutrition Technical Focus Area, BASICS, 1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209.
Purpose: This presentation focuses on the results of a three-part evaluation conducted by the BASICS II Project under funding from USAID to assess the effectiveness of a program to promote child growth through preventive, community-based integrated health and nutrition activities. Data: The data for the AIN evaluation includes three household surveys – a baseline (1998), midterm (2000) and final (2002). Method: This evaluation was designed to provide pre- and post-intervention comparisons between AIN and control communities in order to demonstrate the contribution of the program in reducing the prevalence of malnutrition in children under 2. While the baseline and final surveys include data on program impact, the midterm documents changes that occur in intervention communities during program implementation. The evaluation examines knowledge, careseeking and treatment for diarrhea and acute respiratory infections as well as breastfeeding and complimentary feeding practices. Results: Results of this evaluation show that 92% of the caretakers of children < 2 participate in the AIN program in their community. Compared to control communities, these caretakers are significantly more likely to provide oral rehydration therapy to children with diarrhea and to exclusively breastfeed children for the first six months of life. AIN caretakers are also significantly more likely to know danger signs for diarrhea and respiratory infections. Program and Policy implications: These results show that an integrated community-based program such as AIN, which is being scaled up as the national nutrition policy of the Ministry of Health of Honduras, can positively impact behavior of caretakers of children under 2.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community Programs, Research
Related Web page: www.BASICS.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.