Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar

India accounts for a large proportion of the global prevalence of maternal and child undernutrition, and recent trends have renewed the call for large-scale concerted efforts to improve outcomes. With their reach to millions of rural Indian women, self-help groups (SHGs) offer a possible solution. W...

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Autores principales: Raghunathan, Kalyani, Kumar, Neha, Gupta, Shivani, Chauhan, Tarana, Kathuria, Ashi Kohli, Menon, Purnima
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140028
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author Raghunathan, Kalyani
Kumar, Neha
Gupta, Shivani
Chauhan, Tarana
Kathuria, Ashi Kohli
Menon, Purnima
author_browse Chauhan, Tarana
Gupta, Shivani
Kathuria, Ashi Kohli
Kumar, Neha
Menon, Purnima
Raghunathan, Kalyani
author_facet Raghunathan, Kalyani
Kumar, Neha
Gupta, Shivani
Chauhan, Tarana
Kathuria, Ashi Kohli
Menon, Purnima
author_sort Raghunathan, Kalyani
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description India accounts for a large proportion of the global prevalence of maternal and child undernutrition, and recent trends have renewed the call for large-scale concerted efforts to improve outcomes. With their reach to millions of rural Indian women, self-help groups (SHGs) offer a possible solution. We provide evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in the state of Bihar of the impact of a health and nutrition intervention that provided behavior change communication to SHG members and worked to strengthen utilization of services. Over the course of 2.5 years, the intervention resulted in a 7% increase in the number of food groups consumed by children and a 30% increase in the proportion of women achieving minimum dietary diversity but had no impact on women’s body mass index or child underweight and wasting. Both knowledge and adoption of key behaviors along the impact pathway improved as a result of the treatment. SHGs certainly have the potential to effect social change and accelerate improvements in maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes, but in resource-constrained settings such as these, information-only interventions delivered through these platforms will likely have limited impact.
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spelling CGSpace1400282025-10-26T13:01:54Z Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar Raghunathan, Kalyani Kumar, Neha Gupta, Shivani Chauhan, Tarana Kathuria, Ashi Kohli Menon, Purnima maternal and child health child wasting gender body mass index research nutrition self-help groups dietary diversity women India accounts for a large proportion of the global prevalence of maternal and child undernutrition, and recent trends have renewed the call for large-scale concerted efforts to improve outcomes. With their reach to millions of rural Indian women, self-help groups (SHGs) offer a possible solution. We provide evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in the state of Bihar of the impact of a health and nutrition intervention that provided behavior change communication to SHG members and worked to strengthen utilization of services. Over the course of 2.5 years, the intervention resulted in a 7% increase in the number of food groups consumed by children and a 30% increase in the proportion of women achieving minimum dietary diversity but had no impact on women’s body mass index or child underweight and wasting. Both knowledge and adoption of key behaviors along the impact pathway improved as a result of the treatment. SHGs certainly have the potential to effect social change and accelerate improvements in maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes, but in resource-constrained settings such as these, information-only interventions delivered through these platforms will likely have limited impact. 2023-08 2024-03-14T12:08:50Z 2024-03-14T12:08:50Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140028 en https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133769 Open Access Elsevier Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kumar, Neha; Gupta, Shivani; Chauhan, Tarana; Kathuria, Ashi Kohli; and Menon, Purnima. 2023. Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar. World Development 168(August 2023): 106267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106267
spellingShingle maternal and child health
child wasting
gender
body mass index
research
nutrition
self-help groups
dietary diversity
women
Raghunathan, Kalyani
Kumar, Neha
Gupta, Shivani
Chauhan, Tarana
Kathuria, Ashi Kohli
Menon, Purnima
Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar
title Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar
title_full Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar
title_fullStr Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar
title_full_unstemmed Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar
title_short Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar
title_sort learning together experimental evidence on the impact of group based nutrition interventions in rural bihar
topic maternal and child health
child wasting
gender
body mass index
research
nutrition
self-help groups
dietary diversity
women
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140028
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