Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), Medical Faculty and University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Bonn, Germany.
Trials. 2022 Jun 1;23(1):449. doi: 10.1186/s13063-022-06423-5.
Climate change heavily affects child nutritional status in sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural and dietary diversification are promising tools to balance agricultural yield losses and nutrient deficits in crops. However, rigorous impact evaluation of such adaptation strategies is lacking. This project will determine the potential of an integrated home gardening and nutrition counseling program as one possible climate change adaptation strategy to improve child health in rural Burkina Faso and Kenya.
Based on careful co-design with stakeholders and beneficiaries, we conduct a multi-center, cluster-randomized controlled trial with 2 × 600 households in North-Western Burkina Faso and in South-Eastern Kenya. We recruit households with children at the age of complementary feed introduction (6-24 months) and with access to water sources. The intervention comprises the bio-diversification of horticultural home gardens and nutritional health counseling, using the 7 Essential Nutrition Action messages by the World Health Organization. After 12-months of follow-up, we will determine the intervention effect on the primary health outcome height-for-age z-score, using multi-level mixed models in an intention-to-treat approach. Secondary outcomes comprise other anthropometric indices, iron and zinc status, dietary behavior, malaria indicators, and household socioeconomic status.
This project will establish the potential of a home gardening and nutrition counseling program to counteract climate change-related quantitative and qualitative agricultural losses, thereby improving the nutritional status among young children in rural sub-Saharan Africa.
German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) DRKS00019076 . Registered on 27 July 2021.
气候变化严重影响撒哈拉以南非洲儿童的营养状况。农业和饮食多样化是平衡农业产量损失和作物营养不足的有前途的工具。然而，这种适应策略的严格影响评估却很缺乏。本项目将确定综合家庭园艺和营养咨询方案作为改善布基纳法索和肯尼亚农村儿童健康的一种可能的气候变化适应策略的潜力。
我们与利益攸关方和受益人进行了精心的共同设计，在布基纳法索西北部和肯尼亚东南部进行了一项多中心、集群随机对照试验，有 2×600 户家庭参与。我们招募了有 6-24 个月龄的补充喂养儿童并能获得水源的家庭。干预措施包括园艺家庭花园的生物多样化和营养健康咨询，使用世界卫生组织的 7 项基本营养行动信息。在 12 个月的随访后，我们将使用多层次混合模型在意向治疗方法中确定干预对身高年龄 z 分数这一主要健康结果的影响。次要结果包括其他人体测量指标、铁和锌的状况、饮食行为、疟疾指标和家庭社会经济状况。
本项目将确定家庭园艺和营养咨询方案的潜力，以应对与气候变化相关的农业数量和质量损失，从而改善撒哈拉以南非洲农村地区幼儿的营养状况。
德国临床试验注册处（DRKS）DRKS00019076。于 2021 年 7 月 27 日注册。
