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Project in Nepal

Strategies to Increase Milk Consumption Among Children in Rural Nepal

Timeframe: March 2019 - September 2021

Funding: USAID

Principal investigator (PI) and lead institution

Bhola Shankar Shrestha, Heifer Project International

Co-PI and collaborator institutions

Results

Journal Articles

Miller, L. C., Neupane, S., Joshi, N., Lohani, M., Sah, K., & Shrestha, B. 2022. Dairy Animal Ownership and Household Milk Production Associated with Better Child and Family Diet in Rural Nepal during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Nutrients, 14(10), 2074. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14102074

Sapp, A.C., Amaya, M.P., Havelaar, A.H., and Nane, G.F. 2022. Attribution of country level foodborne disease to food group and food types in three African countries: Conclusions from a structured expert judgment study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 16(9): e0010663. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010663

Other Resources

Educational flipbook. 2022. Importance of nutrients and milk for the growth and development of children (Nepali language). This flipbook explains the importance of animal-source food, particularly milk, and their nutrients. It also indicates the quantity of nutrients required for children of different ages (6 months to 5 years). Various milk products and the importance of clean milk production are emphasized with relevant images.

Poster. 2022. Recommendation of balanced diet and requirement of milk for children aged 6 months to 5 years

Project Plan

This project aims to assess the relationship between household milk production and child milk consumption through understanding: 1) the extent to which good husbandry practice behavior change was sustained, 2) other factors related to child milk consumption; and 3) the relationship between milk consumption and child growth outcomes.

Animal-source foods such as milk can be an important source of nutrients for the growth and development of infants and young children in low-income settings. Improved understanding of household milk production and child milk consumption will help to address possible barriers. As a result, households may diversify diets and improve nutritional status of children through consumption of milk, while decreasing household and national spending on malnutrition and disease outbreaks.

Methods

  • Measure household level Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), milk production and milk consumption: To examine the sustainability of the behavior change in good husbandry practices measured in prior research, the project will measure the current level of good husbandry practices among the households that were previously trained as well as the amount of milk production over a lactation cycle, the levels of household hygiene and the levels of household milk consumption.
  • Assess the relationships between household factors, milk availability, milk consumption and health: Once data is collected on good husbandry practices, milk production and milk consumption, the project will examine the relationships between these factors. For example, the project will assess the nature of the relationship between household milk availability and child consumption of milk as well as the relationship between social factors and child milk consumption. In addition, the project will assess the relationship between the amount of non-milk dairy products consumed and child milk consumption and the relationship between child milk consumption and child health outcomes.
  • Assess the efficacy of nutrition training emphasizing milk consumption: The project will also assess the efficacy of nutrition education given to households by assessing several factors including 1) whether household that receive nutrition training have children who consume more milk, 2) whether mothers who receive nutrition training have changed knowledge, attitudes or practices regarding child feeding, and 3) whether households exposed to nutrition training have higher levels of milk consumption among non-child household members.

Objectives

The project's main objectives are to: 

  • Explore association between household milk production and child milk consumption
  • Implement a nutrition training program, focused on child ASF consumption; evaluate the impact of this program
  • Assess relationship between child milk consumption and child growth and development
  • Determine if households maintained adherence to good animal husbandry practices (as introduced via project with Heifer Nepal, 2017)

More information

 October 2020 research update SHRESTHA VGM (Virtual General Meeting)

 

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems is part of Feed the Future

This work was funded in whole or part by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security under Agreement # AID-OAA-L-15-00003 as part of Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems. Additional funding was received from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation OPP#060115.  Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here are those of the authors alone.