Problem

The effects of infant undernutrition are permanent, yet preventable

Despite China’s progress in the past two decades, malnutrition affects up to 50% of school age children and even higher rates of preschoolers in poverty-stricken areas of the country. Deficiencies of micronutrients such as iron are still very common and can significantly impede an infant’s cognitive development, health, and social behavior before the infant even reaches her first birthday.

The effects of undernutrition are permanent, yet at the same time, they are preventable. Research increasingly indicates the importance of adequate nutrition in the first two to three years of life. Nutritional improvements during this brief window have been shown to have large and significant effects on health and development throughout childhood and even into adulthood.

In 2011, China’s education ministry announced a US$2.5 billion school lunch program to improve school meals for 26 million K-12 students in 680 poor rural counties. While the program demonstrates strong commitment by China’s top leadership to improving child health and nutrition, it may not be enough. By the time children are in school, the deficits from malnutrition in their first years will already be a life-long burden.

Currently, there is no single government body in China responsible for infant health and well-being. However, with the gradual loosening of China’s one-strict One Child Policy, the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) is stepping up to fill the gap. Though the NPFPC has extensive experience working with mothers and infants, they are new to the field of nutrition. Thus, they are partnering with REAP to identify the most effective and scalable strategies to improve infant nutrition.

What is the most sustainable strategy to improve infant nutrition across rural China?

Objective

To better understand which strategies are most effective and hold the most promise in terms of scalability on a national level, REAP will assist NPFPC in evaluating two methods of improving infant nutrition that are already being employed in some isolated pilot villages.

Approach

Testing sample

A total of about 1500 caregivers and 1500 babies randomly selected from 220 rural villages in Shaanxi province and Inner Mongolia will be involved in our study.

Interventions

Group 1: An in-depth nutritional training campaign, teaching caregivers the importance of good infant nutrition, providing examples of a balanced diet, and informing about the role of nutritional supplements;

Group 2: A nutritional supplementation program for infants. Families participating in the project will be offered—free of charge—a government-approved multivitamin packet that can be mixed in with their breakfast porridge and/or infant formula each morning.

Data collection

Infants’ development test, hemoglobin levels, anthropometric measurements, family socioeconomic data, caregiver knowledge of infant nutrition, and food preparation surveys will be obtained for the baseline survey. The endline survey will be nearly identical, with the exception of the test of infant development, which will be updated to reflect normal infant abilities as they age.

Results

This project will launch in December 2012. Stay tuned!