Tanzania - Evaluation of Next Generation Nutrition Programme

This is a project on evaluation of integrated nutrition interventions in Tanzania. It is a controlled before after evaluation implemented in Simiyu and Ruvuma regions, with Nzega, Uyui, Ruangwa and Lindi being the control areas. The project aims to test the hypothesis that targeted bundle of interventions spanning the 1,000 days period (increased knowledge, attitudes and practices for healthy pregnancy and infant feeding practices and treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) cases) will reduce stunting in children under-two years. We are also exploring community norms contributing to poor maternal, child health and nutrition outcomes. To make it scalable, the study will assess quality of data collected and perform costs analysis Face-to-face interview The study intend to detect a 10% percent absolute baseline-to-end-line change in stunting as a key indicator. Baseline rates of stunting in the intervention was 48% & control was 26 % (Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, 2014). We assumed a 15% and 5% absolute drop in stunting in intervention and control districts respectively over 4 year period. Using 5% type I error and 80% power, 840 households were required in intervention districts and 1680 in control districts while accounting for the non-response. The study employed a two stage stratified sampling process - 1st stage involved a selection of 28 villages in both the intervention and control districts, proportional to district size - 2nd stage involved random selection of households in each of the selected villages 30 and 60 households were selected per village in the intervention and control districts respectively. Whenever the number of children needed per village was not attained, particularly in the control sites, all families with children aged less than two years in the village were sampled or an additional reserve village was used. For the exploration of community norms, purposive selection of participants was done in consultation with district health team, village health workers and CUAMM to achieve a wide range of opinions.