Supporting maternal and child nutrition: views from community members in rural Northern Ghana
Supporting maternal and child nutrition: views from community members in rural Northern Ghana
Objective: despite efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition, undernutrition remains a major public health challenge in Ghana. The current study explored community perceptions of undernutrition and context-specific interventions that could improve maternal and child nutrition in rural Northern Ghana.
Design: this exploratory qualitative study used ten focus group discussions to gather primary data. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and coded into themes using Nvivo 12 software to aid thematic analysis.
Setting: the study was conducted in rural Kassena-Nankana Districts of Northern Ghana.
Study participants: thirty-three men and fifty-one women aged 18–50 years were randomly selected from the community.
Results: most participants reported poverty, lack of irrigated agricultural land and poor harvests as the main barriers to optimal nutrition. To improve maternal and child nutrition, study participants suggested that the construction of dams at the community level would facilitate all year round farming including rearing of animals. Participants perceived that the provision of agricultural materials such as high yield seedlings, pesticides and fertiliser would help boost agricultural productivity. They also recommended community-based nutrition education by trained health volunteers, focused on types of locally produced foods and appropriate ways to prepare them to help improve maternal and child nutrition.
Conclusion:
Drawing on these findings and existing literature, we argue that supporting community initiated nutrition interventions such as improved irrigation for dry season farming, provision of agricultural inputs and community education could improve maternal and child nutrition.
Community interventions, Community perceptions, Ghana, Maternal and child nutrition
Debpuur, Cornelius
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Nonterah, Engelbert A.
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Chatio, Samuel T.
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Adoctor, James K.
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Dambayi, Edith
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Beeri, Paula
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Nonterah, Esmond W.
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Ayi-Bisah, Doreen
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Watson, Daniella
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Kehoe, Sarah
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Dalaba, Maxwell A.
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Ofosu, Winfred
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Aborigo, Raymond
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Welaga, Paul
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Oduro, Abraham R.
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Newell, Marie-Louise
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Barker, Mary
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Debpuur, Cornelius
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Nonterah, Engelbert A.
aacb7a34-ceef-4a9f-93b8-707a29db42c6
Chatio, Samuel T.
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Adoctor, James K.
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Dambayi, Edith
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Beeri, Paula
f43cf17d-fdd5-4c5b-ba13-851f32d81c28
Nonterah, Esmond W.
d4a6532a-131c-483e-bc56-8959e6b415b9
Ayi-Bisah, Doreen
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Watson, Daniella
26005c9f-779f-407b-b7e4-b7c9b812b6be
Kehoe, Sarah
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Dalaba, Maxwell A.
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Ofosu, Winfred
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Aborigo, Raymond
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Welaga, Paul
f4544a09-4e63-435d-8bb2-cbcea0b40589
Oduro, Abraham R.
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Newell, Marie-Louise
c6ff99dd-c23b-4fef-a846-a221fe2522b3
Barker, Mary
374310ad-d308-44af-b6da-515bf5d2d6d2
Debpuur, Cornelius, Nonterah, Engelbert A., Chatio, Samuel T., Adoctor, James K., Dambayi, Edith, Beeri, Paula, Nonterah, Esmond W., Ayi-Bisah, Doreen, Watson, Daniella, Kehoe, Sarah, Dalaba, Maxwell A., Ofosu, Winfred, Aborigo, Raymond, Welaga, Paul, Oduro, Abraham R., Newell, Marie-Louise and Barker, Mary
,
INPreP group
(2020)
Supporting maternal and child nutrition: views from community members in rural Northern Ghana.
Public Health Nutrition.
(doi:10.1017/S136898002000302X).
Abstract
Objective: despite efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition, undernutrition remains a major public health challenge in Ghana. The current study explored community perceptions of undernutrition and context-specific interventions that could improve maternal and child nutrition in rural Northern Ghana.
Design: this exploratory qualitative study used ten focus group discussions to gather primary data. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and coded into themes using Nvivo 12 software to aid thematic analysis.
Setting: the study was conducted in rural Kassena-Nankana Districts of Northern Ghana.
Study participants: thirty-three men and fifty-one women aged 18–50 years were randomly selected from the community.
Results: most participants reported poverty, lack of irrigated agricultural land and poor harvests as the main barriers to optimal nutrition. To improve maternal and child nutrition, study participants suggested that the construction of dams at the community level would facilitate all year round farming including rearing of animals. Participants perceived that the provision of agricultural materials such as high yield seedlings, pesticides and fertiliser would help boost agricultural productivity. They also recommended community-based nutrition education by trained health volunteers, focused on types of locally produced foods and appropriate ways to prepare them to help improve maternal and child nutrition.
Conclusion:
Drawing on these findings and existing literature, we argue that supporting community initiated nutrition interventions such as improved irrigation for dry season farming, provision of agricultural inputs and community education could improve maternal and child nutrition.
Text
Supporting maternal and child nutrition Views from community members in rural Northern Ghana
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 1 August 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 25 September 2020
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society.
Keywords:
Community interventions, Community perceptions, Ghana, Maternal and child nutrition
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 444122
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/444122
ISSN: 1368-9800
PURE UUID: 35cd32df-8b8b-41e8-a2ca-4b3770158f89
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 28 Sep 2020 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:33
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Contributors
Author:
Cornelius Debpuur
Author:
Engelbert A. Nonterah
Author:
Samuel T. Chatio
Author:
James K. Adoctor
Author:
Edith Dambayi
Author:
Paula Beeri
Author:
Esmond W. Nonterah
Author:
Doreen Ayi-Bisah
Author:
Maxwell A. Dalaba
Author:
Winfred Ofosu
Author:
Raymond Aborigo
Author:
Paul Welaga
Author:
Abraham R. Oduro
Corporate Author: INPreP group
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