Intervention Effectiveness

Folic acid food fortification-its history, effect, concerns, and future directions. Periconceptional intake of folic acid is known to reduce a woman’s risk of having an infant affected by a neural tube birth defect (NTD). National programs to mandate fortification of food with folic acid have reduced the prevalence of NTDs worldwide. Uncertainty surrounding possible unintended […]

Moving from vertical to integrated child health programmes: experiences from a multi-country assessment of the Child Health Days approach in Africa. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of child health days (CHDs) on coverage of child survival interventions, to document country experiences with CHDs and to identify ways in which CHDs have strengthened or depleted primary health […]

Impact monitoring of the national scale up of zinc treatment for childhood diarrhea in Bangladesh: repeat ecologic surveys. BACKGROUND: Zinc treatment of childhood diarrhea has the potential to save 400,000 under-five lives per year in lesser developed countries. In 2004 the World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF revised their clinical management of childhood diarrhea guidelines to include zinc. […]

Implementing an integrated nutrition package at large scale in Madagascar: the Essential Nutrition Actions framework. BACKGROUND: Madagascar has some of the highest rates of child stunting, maternal malnutrition, and infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVE: To improve infant and young child feeding practices, increase uptake of micronutrient supplements, and improve women’s dietary practices through implementation of a […]

Programmatic effects of a large-scale multiple-micronutrient supplementation trial in Indonesia: using community facilitators as intermediaries for behavior change. BACKGROUND: Clinical trials can serve as an opportunity gateway for enhanced health benefits to the target population, above and beyond the specific intervention being tested. OBJECTIVE: The Supplementation with Multiple Micronutrients Intervention Trial (SUMMIT), a randomized, controlled clinical trial […]

Operational issues and trends associated with the pilot introduction of zinc for childhood diarrhoea in Bougouni district, Mali. Zinc for the treatment of childhood diarrhoea was introduced in a pilot area in southern Mali to prepare for a cluster-randomized effectiveness study and to inform policies on how to best introduce and promote zinc at the […]

National food-fortification program with folic acid in Chile. The Chilean Ministry of Health legislated to add folic acid (2.2 mg/100 g) to wheat flour to reduce the risk of neural tube defects (NTD), beginning in January 2000. This policy resulted in a significant increase in serum and red blood cell folate in women of childbearing […]

Review of interventions for the prevention and control of folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies. Folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies represent important and evolving global health challenges that contribute to the global burden of anemia, neurologic conditions, neurodevelopmental disorders, and birth defects. We present a review of population-based programs designed to increase consumption of folates and […]

Mainstreaming nutrition into maternal and child health programmes: scaling up of exclusive breastfeeding. Interventions to promote exclusive breastfeeding have been estimated to have the potential to prevent 13% of all under-5 deaths in developing countries and are the single most important preventive intervention against child mortality. According to World Health Organization and United Nations Children […]

Maternal and child undernutrition: effective action at national level. 80% of the world’s undernourished children live in just 20 countries. Intensified nutrition action in these countries can lead to achievement of the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and greatly increase the chances of achieving goals for child and maternal mortality (MDGs 4 and 5). Despite […]