African Aid Effectiveness Research (Interdisciplinary - Econ/Political | 25 March 2003
Impact Evaluation of Nutritional Counseling on Maternal Health in Ghanaian Hospitals: An Analysis
G, a, b, e, r, T, e, s, f, a, y, e
Abstract
Maternal health in Ghanaian hospitals is a critical public health issue, with nutritional deficiencies being a significant contributing factor to poor outcomes. A mixed-methods approach was employed including quantitative data analysis from hospital records and qualitative interviews with participants to assess effectiveness. Nutritional counseling led to a statistically significant increase in mean gestational weight gain by 10% (95% CI: [6.2, 13.8]) among the study group compared to controls. The findings suggest that nutritional counseling programmes can be effective in improving maternal health outcomes in Ghanaian hospitals. Healthcare providers and policymakers should consider implementing or expanding nutrition support services for pregnant women to enhance maternal health. 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.