 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Larry Morgan, PhD, Asia Region, Chemonics International, Inc., 1133, 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC, DC 20036, 202-955-3363, lmorgan@chemonics.net and Kuhu Maitra, MD, Chemonics International, Calcutta University, India, 1133, 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC, Washington, DC, DC 20036.
IMPACT OF IMPROVED NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES ON NIGHT BLINDNESS IN MARD PROJECT AREAS
Population –based surveys suggest that 10-20 percent of women in rural South and Southeast Asia experience night blindness during pregnancy. In a western hill region of Nepal where malnutrition is prevalent, approximately 50 percent of all women reported having had night blindness during their most recent pregnancy. The USAID-funded Market Access Rural Development ( MARD) Project in Nepal incorporated a maternal and infant health improvement component in a program that was primarily concerned with increased commercialization of agriculture. The implementation methodology used was the knowledge attitude practice approach to diffuse the project’s technical interventions. The project demonstrated used a food based vitamin A approach that was coordinated with the market development and technology components to emphasize quality production for home use; provide an adequate nutrition knowledge base; importance of food storage and preservation to cope with lean production periods; mount a nutrition awareness campaign; and monitor nutrition interventions. The results demonstrated that the incidence of night blindness in pregnant and lactating women in MARD project areas declined by 53 percent, from a baseline level of 14.7 percent down to 6.7 percent and a three fold increase in knowledge level from 23 percent to 75.9 percent and a 70 percent increase in nutrition practices from 48.6 percent to 81.6 percent.
Project also developed a communication strategy for spreading the approach through local opinion leaders such as MARD Farmer groups, Private Sector, Community Based Groups and Mass Media regarding the magnitude and problem of night blindness during pregnancy which can be replicated.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community Education,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: The USAID-funded Market Access Rural Development ( MARD) Project in Nepal.
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.