Programmatic implications of some vitamin A supplementation and deworming determinants among children aged 6-59 months in resource-poor rural Kenya

Introduction: controlling vitamin A deficiency and soil-transmitted helminth infections are public health imperatives. We aimed at revealing some caregiver and child-related determinants of uptake of vitamin A supplementation and deworming, and examine their programmatic implications in Kenyan context. Methods: a cross-sectional study of randomly selected 1,177 households with infants and young children aged 6-59 months in three of the 47 counties of Kenya. The number of times a child was given vitamin A supplements and dewormed 6 months and one year preceding the study was extracted from mother-child health books. Results: coverage for age-specific deworming was considerably depressed compared to corresponding vitamin A supplementation and for both services, twice-yearly provisions were disproportionately lower than half-yearly. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed relatively younger children, of Islam-affiliated caregivers (vis a vis Christians) and those who took less time to nearest health facilities as more likely to be supplemented with vitamin A. Similar observations were made for deworming where additionally, maternal and child ages were also determinants in favour of older groups. Other studied factors were not significant determinants. Programmatic allusions of the determining factors were discussed. Conclusion: key to improving uptake of vitamin A supplementation and deworming among Kenyan 6-59 months olds are: increasing access to functional health facilities, expanding outreaches and campaigns, dispelling faith-related misconceptions and probably modulating caregiver and child age effects by complementing nutrition literacy with robust and innovative caregiver reminders. Given analogous service points and scheduling, relative lower uptake of deworming warrants further investigations

The Influence of Antenatal Oral Iron and Folic Acid Side Effects on Supplementation Duration in Low-Resource Rural Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background. Undesirable effects of a daily regimen of iron and folic acid ingested jointly (iron-folate) are potential disincentives to optimal antenatal supplementation. We intended to profile antenatal iron-folate side effects and elucidate their influence on supplementation duration in low-resource rural Kenya. Methods. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of randomly selected postnatal mothers of under-five-year-old children. Using a modified WHO Safe Motherhood Assessment standard questionnaire, they recalled the total number of days of antenatal iron-folate intake and the attendant supplement-attributed undesirable experiences. The analyses considered only participants who ingested the supplements in their immediate last pregnancies (n=277). Results. About half of the study participants reported at least a side effect and a mean of 2.4 (SD 1.5) effects per person in the entire pregnancy period. Most common reported effects were chest pains (31.8%), constipation (28.5%), severe stomach pains (11.6%), and diarrhoea (11.6%). Mothers who reported at least a side effect ingested the supplements for ten days less compared to those who did not experience any effect (p=0.03); and a greater proportion of the former were primigravida (p=0.02) and used combined form of iron and folic acid (p=0.003). In a multivariate analysis, significant correlations with supplementation compliance (ingestion for 90+ days) were found only for nausea and severe stomach pain experiences (r=−0.1, p=0.04; r=0.2, p=0.01, resp.). Conclusions. The commonness of undesirable experiences attributed to daily ingestion of 60 mg iron and 0.4 mg folic acid and their deterrence to longer supplementation durations suggest the need for considering a weekly intermittent regimen for some antenatal women in such set-ups. Our study demonstrated that potentially, more counselling on nausea as a side effect might be critical in advancing iron-folate supplementation compliance

Interpreting alignment to the EAT‐Lancet diet using dietary intakes of lactating mothers in rural Western Kenya

Abstract The EAT‐Lancet reference diet intends to be good for planetary and human health. We compared single multiple pass method 24‐h dietary intake of mothers (n = 242) from a cross‐sectional study in Western Kenya to the recommended range of intake of 11 EAT‐Lancet food groups (e.g., 0–100 g/day legumes; maximum score 11), defining alignment two ways: daily intake among food groups where a minimum intake of 0 g was either acceptable or unacceptable. Ordinal logistic regression models assessed associations between alignment and body mass index (BMI). Cost of mothers' diets and hypothetical diets within recommended ranges (lower bounds >0 g) were estimated using food price data from markets within the mothers' locality. Mean energy intake was 1827 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1731–1924) kcal/day. Relative to the EAT‐Lancet diet, mothers' diets were on average higher for grains; within recommendations for tubers, fish, beef and dairy; closer to lower bounds for chicken, eggs, legumes and nuts; and lower for fruits and vegetables. Mean (95% CI) alignment scores were 8.2 (8.0–8.3) when 0 g intakes were acceptable and 1.7 (1.6–1.9) otherwise. No significant associations were found between alignment and BMI. Mothers' diets and hypothetical diets within recommended ranges averaged 184.6 KES (1.6 USD) and 357.5 KES (3.0 USD)/person/day, respectively. Lactating mothers' diets were not diverse and diverged from the reference diet when an intake of 0 g was considered unacceptable. Lower bound intakes of 0 g for micronutrient‐dense food groups are inappropriate in food‐insecure populations. It would likely cost more than mothers currently spend to tailor their diets to the EAT‐Lancet reference diet