Developing Evidence-Based Strategies to Improve Early Child Nutrition in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

Guatemala has the highest prevalence of childhood malnutrition in Latin America with 49% of the children chronically undernourished, i.e. stunted. Bhutta et al (2008) show that education about complementary feeding can increase height-for-age Z score by 0.25. Nutrition-related interventions can also reduce stunting at 36 months by 36% and mortality between birth and 36 months by about 25%. Adhering to the WHO Complementary Feeding Guidelines has been shown to prevent weanling diarrhea. The guidelines are related to better micronutrient status and growth. While most of the guidelines relate directly to providing sufficient complementary foods two of the guidelines relate directly to the prevention of infectious disease (see guidelines 6 and 7) or feeding during/after illness (see guideline 9). Further exploration is needed to identify the complementary feeding practices in Guatemala that prevent weanling diarrhea and improve micronutrient intake and child growth.

1. That adherence to the WHO recommendations (2003) for early child feeding among low-income Quetzaltenango mothers, specifically adequate complementary feeding, is associated with higher growth attainment and greater disease resistance;

2. That a combination of quantitative and qualitative data on early infant feeding practices of mothers in Quetzaltenango can provide evidence on which to base public action to eliminate barriers to appropriate feeding and to base counselling guidance and public action to generalize the determinant variables of “successful mothers” across the sector, with a high probably to increase adherence in the low-income community of Quetzaltenango.

A cross-sectional sample of 300 mother-child dyads will be interviewed once and anthropometric measurements of mother and child will be collected on a single occasion.

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