Abstract
BackgroundRural infant growth failure has been highlighted as a priority for action in China’s national nutrition and child development policies. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of community-based intervention project on child feeding, child health care and child growth.MethodsFrom 2001 to 2005, UNICEF and China’s Ministry of Health worked together to develop holistic strategies for child health care. All the interventions were implemented through the three-tier (county-township-village) rural health care network.In this study, 34 counties were included in both surveys in 2001 and 2005. Among these 34 counties, nine were subjected to the intervention and 25 counties were used as controls. In nine intervention counties, leaflets containing information of supplemental feeding of infants and young children were printed and distributed to women during hospital delivery or visit to newborn by village doctors. Two cross-sectional surveys were both conducted from July to early September in 2001 and 2005. We calculated Z-scores of height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ) and weight-for-height (WHZ), with the new WHO growth standard. HAZ < − 2 was defined as stunting, WAZ < − 2 was defined as underweight, and WHZ < − 2 was defined as wasting.ResultsFollowing the four-year study period, the parents in the intervention group showed significantly better infant and young child feeding practices and behaviors of child care than did their control group counterparts. In addition, all three anthropometric indicators in 2005 in the intervention group were better than in the control, with stunting 4.9% lower (p < 0.001), underweight 2.2% lower (p < 0.001), and wasting 1.0% lower (p < 0.05).ConclusionsWe concluded that the health care education intervention embed in government had the potential to be successfully promoted in rural western China.
Highlights
Rural infant growth failure has been highlighted as a priority for action in China’s national nutrition and child development policies
Many studies have shown an association between increased severity of anthropometric deficits and infant and child mortality, and a substantial contribution to child mortality is made by all degrees of malnutrition [2,3,4]
Population and setting The Rural Primary Health Care project (RPHC) project was implemented in 10 provinces of rural western China, where there is a total land area of 151,548 km2, a population of 19.1 million, and 52 nationalities [10]
Summary
Rural infant growth failure has been highlighted as a priority for action in China’s national nutrition and child development policies. Physical growth is often considered as a good global indicator of children’s well-being, because infections and unsatisfactory feeding practices, or more often a combination of the two, are major factors affecting their physical growth and mental development [1]. Child malnutrition may have an adverse effect on children’s intellectual development [2]. Child development refers to the orderly appearance of the interdependent skills of sensory, cognitive and social emotional functions. This emergence depends on, and is interlinked with, a child’s good nutrition and health. The most important years for a child’s survival, growth, and development are prenatally through the transition to school, with the fastest period of growth occurring during the first three to four years of life, when the child’s brain is
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