Nutrition education to improve the diets of lactating mothers and weaning-age children : evaluation of effectiveness and food costs -- an experience from Bangladesh

This report evaluates nutrition education programs developed for two groups: mothers breastfeeding infants less than 6 months old; and infants of weaning age (6-12 months). The educational messages were developed by the communities themselves, and the teaching approach was family-oriented, with not only mothers, but also fathers and grandmothers participating. The intervention aimed at lactating women had only limited impact, primarily because the families could not afford to buy the food needed to comply with the message, despite the program"s careful promotion of low-cost foods; a lesson learned is the need to supplement nutrition education with programs to make additional food purchases affordable. The cost problem was exacerbated by a cultural factor: mothers felt they could increase their own food intake only if they also increased the share given to all family members. The weaning intervention, on the other hand succeeded to a significant degree, and at less than one-third the cost of improving the lactating mothers" diets. An important and culturally feasible ingredient in the program"s success was the promotion of a complementary snack food, an approach that in hindsight might have proven successful in the program for lactating mothers.