Reducing child undernutrition through dietary diversification, reduced aflatoxin exposure, and improved hygiene practices: the immediate impacts in central Tanzania
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Routledge Taylor and Francis Group
Abstract
The study aimed to quantify the immediate effects of dietary
diversification, food safety, and hygiene interventions on child
undernutrition in four rural villages in Kongwa district of cen-
tral Tanzania. One hundred mothers with their children of less
than 24 months old were recruited for this study. The differ-
ence-in-difference (DID) method was used to assess the effects
of intensive intervention through a learning-by-doing process
on the topic of aflatoxin free diversified food utilization and
improved hygiene practices. Periodic anthropometric measure-
ments were conducted on the 0th, 7th, 14th, and 21st days,
and DID estimator showed the significant and positive average
marginal effects of the intervention on Z-Scores being 0.459,
0.252, and 0.493 for wasting, stunting, and underweight,
respectively. Notably, at the end of the study, the mean
aflatoxin M 1 level in urine samples decreased by 64% in the
intervention group, while it decreased by 11% in the control
group. The study provides quantitative evidence on intensive
21-day training for mothers incorporating integrated technol-
ogies yielded positive impacts on their children’s nutritional
outcomes.
Description
Main article
Keywords
Undernutrition, Complementary food, Aflatoxin exposure, Difference