African Health Economics (Business focus) | 24 October 2008
Public Health Nutrition Campaigns and Childhood Stunting Reduction in Northern Nigerian Villages: A Longitudinal Feasibility Study Using Feed Response Scores
U, s, m, a, n, A, b, u, b, a, k, a, r, ,, A, l, i, y, u, G, a, m, b, o
Abstract
Public health nutrition campaigns have been implemented globally to reduce childhood stunting, a critical public health issue affecting millions of children worldwide. In northern Nigeria, where child malnutrition is prevalent, such interventions aim to improve dietary practices and overall nutritional status. The study employs a longitudinal design to assess the effectiveness of these campaigns, utilising data from multiple northern Nigerian villages where interventions were conducted. Feed response scores are collected at baseline and post-intervention to evaluate changes in children's nutritional status and dietary practices. Feed response scores indicate significant improvements in dietary adherence among children exposed to nutrition campaigns, with a mean increase of 15% in consumption of nutrient-rich foods over the one-year period. The findings suggest that public health nutrition campaigns can effectively enhance nutritional outcomes for young children in northern Nigerian villages through targeted interventions and monitoring using feed response scores. Based on these results, future studies should consider expanding intervention periods to observe longer-term impacts and explore the scalability of such approaches across different regions and socioeconomic contexts. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p<em>i)=\beta</em>0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.