NCT02975063

Alive & Thrive Nigeria Impact Evaluation

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 15,169 (actual)
• Sponsor: RTI International · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 15 Years – 49 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Investigators will use a cluster-randomized design to evaluate the overall impact of the Alive \& Thrive infant and young child feeding communication strategies in Lagos and Kaduna States, Nigeria. The impact in each state and in a subset of urban local government areas (LGAs) will also be tested.This is a mixed methods evaluation; the quantitative data will be complemented by qualitative data obtained from different groups targeted by or involved in the program.

Detailed description

Adequate nutrition during the first 1,000 days is necessary for children to grow and develop to their full potential. Alive \& Thrive (A\&T) contributes to better nutrition during the first 1,000 days by promoting improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. A\&T is expanding its efforts to Nigeria and will target Lagos and Kaduna States. In Nigeria, 33% of infants are breastfed within 1 hour of delivery, 60% are given other fluids in the first 3 days of life, and only 17% of children 0-5.9 months are exclusively breastfed. Approximately 60% of children 6 to 23 months achieve the minimum meal frequency for their age and 19% are fed four or more food groups per day. To address these gaps in optimal IYCF practices, A\&T will use an implementation framework for IYCF impact at scale that includes advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data. The A\&T intervention will be compared to mass media communication on IYCF, which will be provided throughout the two states. LGAs in Lagos and Kaduna will be randomly allocated such that two-thirds receive the A\&T intervention and one-third are assigned to the comparison group. The primary objectives of the evaluation are to measure the impact of the A\&T intervention on IYCF practices among mothers with children 0-23 months of age overall, in each state, and in a subset of urban LGAs. Secondary evaluation objectives are to document: the type, quantity, and timing of the implementation of A\&T program activities; coverage levels A\&T achieves with different program activities; extent to which A\&T increases knowledge and awareness of optimal IYCF practices among women with children 0 to 23 months and health providers; extent to which A\&T improves the capacity of health providers to counsel mothers on IYCF; and extent to which A\&T improves the capacity of stakeholders to implement community-based activities that support optimal IYCF practices.

Conditions

• Complementary Feeding

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	A&T IYCF intervention	(1) Interpersonal communication through frontline workers/volunteers to increase mothers' knowledge and practice of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) behaviors. Interpersonal communication will involve multiple contacts with mothers and an array of IYCF messages; (2) Community mobilization activities to raise awareness of the benefits of optimal IYCF practices among opinion leaders and family members, and increase their support to mother for IYCF; (3) Training of facility and community-based health workers on IYCF to improve their ability to support mothers and provide timely information on IYCF; and (4) Mass media communication on IYCF.

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-01-19
• Primary completion: 2020-12-02
• Completion: 2020-12-02
• First posted: 2016-11-29
• Last updated: 2021-01-14

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Nigeria