Improvement of Dietary Diversity and Attitude toward Recommended Feeding through Novel Community Based Nutritional Education Program in Coastal Kenya—An Intervention Study

Hitachi, Mami; Wanjihia, Violet; Nyandieka, Lilian; Francesca, Chepkirui; Wekesa, Norah; Changoma, Juma; Muniu, Erastus; Ndemwa, Phillip; Honda, Sumihisa; Hirayama, Kenji; Karama, Mohammed; Kaneko, Satoshi

Community-based nutritional intervention to improve the practice of dietary diversity and child nutrition by community health workers (CHWs) involving Nyumba Kumi as small neighborhood units (SNUs) in communities has not yet been explored. This study was conducted in two villages in rural Kenya between 2018 and 2019. In total, 662 participants (control vs. intervention: n = 339 vs. n = 323) were recruited. The intervention group received education on maternal and child nutrition and follow-up consultations. The custom-tailored educational guidelines were made based on Infant and Young Child Feeding and the mother and child health booklet. The educational effects on household caregivers’ feeding practice attitude and child nutritional status were analyzed using multiple linear regression. After the intervention, a total of 368 household caregivers (187 vs. 181) and 180 children (113 vs. 67) were analyzed separately. Between the groups, no significant difference was found in their background characteristics. This study successfully improved the dietary diversity score (β = 0.54; p < 0.01) and attitude score (β = 0.29; p < 0.01). The results revealed that the interventions using CHWs and SNUs were useful to improve dietary diversity and caregivers’ attitudes toward recommended feeding. This research has the potential to be successfully applied in other regions where child undernutrition remains.