Enhancing Milk Consumption for Improved Nutrition in Rwanda

RTI International

Status: Completed

Conditions: Inadequate Child Growth

Treatments: Behavioral: ASF promotion plus Girinka

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03455647

0215801

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is a mixed-methods cluster-randomized controlled trial in Rwanda designed to measure the impact of a dairy asset transfer program with or without nutrition education promoting the home consumption of dairy milk and other animal source foods.

Full description

The purpose of this research is to contribute to efforts for improving the consumption of milk in Rwanda. It will do so by generating and communicating evidence on the nutritional benefits of including animal source food (ASF) in diets of young children and pregnant and lactating women through nutrition education. The proposed project draws upon the work of a Government of Rwanda program - the One Cow per Poor Family (Girinka) program. The Girinka program (2006 - present) is a country-wide program whose goal is to increase household income and reduce child malnutrition among poor households through livestock asset transfer. The study has two main objectives. First, researchers will measure the impact of a nutrition education/ASF promotion intervention on child and maternal nutritional status in households that have received a cow through the Girinka program. Second, researchers will compare nutrition outcomes in the Girinka + nutrition education and Girinka only groups to individuals in households that are eligible for Girinka, but have not yet received a cow. The nutrition education/ASF promotion intervention will be designed and overseen by a local organization and implemented through Government of Rwanda community health workers. The main study outcomes are child height-for-age z-score, child milk consumption, and child dietary diversity. The secondary outcomes are child weight-for-age z-score, child weight-for-height z-score, and maternal body-mass index. The researchers plan to randomly assign all cells in two districts to receive the nutrition education intervention or no intervention. The study will enroll a cohort of 687 mother-child pairs (229 per study arm). The aim is to enroll children 12-17 months of age at baseline; however, if there are not adequate numbers of households that meet all other eligibility criteria, then the child age range will be expanded to 12-29 months of age at baseline. The research team will conduct baseline and endline surveys to measure differences between the groups. At endline, researchers will collect qualitative data from participants and community health workers in the intervention arm to triangulate with the survey findings.

Enrollment: 746 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 49 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Arm 1:

• Household is located in an intervention cell
• Household received a cow under the government of Rwanda Girinka program before 2017
• Household contains a mother 18-49 years of age
• Household contains a child between the ages of 12 and 29 months at baseline

Arm 2:

• Household is located in a comparison cell
• Household received a cow under the government of Rwanda Girinka program before 2017
• Household contains a mother 18-49 years of age
• Household contains a child between the ages of 12 and 29 months at baseline

Arm 3:

-- Household is located in a comparison cell

• Household is eligible to receive a cow under the government of Rwanda Girinka program
• Household contains a mother 18-49 years of age
• Household contains a child between the ages of 12 and 29 months at baseline

Exclusion criteria

• Failure to meet inclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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746 participants in 3 patient groups

ASF Promotion plus Girinka

Experimental group

Description:

Participants have received a cow from the government of Rwanda through the Girinka program and will receive an animal source food promotion intervention from the study.

Treatment:

Behavioral: ASF promotion plus Girinka

Girinka only

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants have received a cow from the government of Rwanda through the Girinka program and will not receive any intervention from the study.

Girinka eligible

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants are eligible to receive a cow through the government of Rwanda Girinka program, but have not yet received a cow. They will not receive any intervention from the study.