Morrison, Joanna;
Giri, Romi;
James, Philip;
Arjyal, Abriti;
Kharel, Chandani;
Saville, Naomi;
Baral, Sushil;
... Harris-Fry, Helen; + view all
(2022)
Assessing food-based strategies to address anaemia in pregnancy in rural plains Nepal: a mixed methods study.
British Journal of Nutrition
10.1017/s0007114522003208.
(In press).
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Abstract
Anaemia in pregnancy is a persistent health problem in Nepal and could be reduced through nutrition counselling and strengthened iron folic acid supplementation programmes. We analysed 24-hour diet recall data from 846 pregnant women in rural plains Nepal, using linear programming to identify the potential for optimised food-based strategies to increase iron adequacy. We then conducted qualitative research to analyse how anaemia was defined and recognised, how families used food-based strategies to address anaemia, and the acceptability of optimised food-based strategies. We did 16 interviews of recently pregnant mothers, three focus group discussions with fathers, three focus group discussions with mothers-in-law, and four interviews with key informants. Dietary analyses showed optimised diets did not achieve 100% of recommended iron intakes, but iron intakes could be doubled by increasing intakes of green leaves, egg, and meat. Families sought to address anaemia through food-based strategies but were often unable to because of the perceived expense of providing an ‘energy-giving’ diet. Some foods were avoided because of religious or cultural taboos, or because they were low-status and could evoke social consequences if eaten. There is a need for counselling to offer affordable ways for families to optimise iron adequacy. The participation of communities in tailoring advice to ensure cultural relevance and alignment with local norms is necessary to enable its effectiveness.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Assessing food-based strategies to address anaemia in pregnancy in rural plains Nepal: a mixed methods study |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0007114522003208 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114522003208 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | maternal, nutrition, community, lay aetiology, iron deficiency |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10157096 |
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