Effective nutrition education and communication for sustainable maternal and child health

Abstract

Maternal and child health (MCH) consists of an interdependent reproductive system that collectively determines the survival of the mother during childbirth, and determines the health and survival of the child. This interdependency underscores the importance of appropriate and timely interventions during pregnancy through the first 1000 d at the minimum. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) recommended the use of the continuum of care for the development of interventions by addressing all the stages of MCH. The purpose of the present paper is to review the factors that contributed to the attainment of the MDG 4 and MDG 5 by analysing the interventions conducted by the countries that achieved at least 5·0 and 5·5 %, respectively, and determine the level of their intervention based on the MCH conceptual framework. Out of the eighteen selected countries discussed, fifteen countries achieved their target for either MDG 4 or MDG 5 or both, while three countries did not achieve their target. The countries that were more likely to achieve their targets addressed the societal, underlying and direct causes, and implemented country wide policies. In contrast, the countries that did not succeed were more likely to address the direct causes with poor policy implementation. Understanding the motivation and limitations of the target population, including nutrition education and targeting behaviour change has the potential to result in sustainable MCH. This information has the potential to enlighten the policymakers as we progress to the sustainable development goals, specifically goals 2 and 3.

The Effect of Nutrition Education on Nutritional Status of Tuberculosis Patients

“…It was evident that consumption of food groups had remarkable effect on BMI, Hb and ESR levels of patients (p value= 0.000). In a study by Murimi MW et al [16] nutritional status of TB patients was evaluated through BMI, 67% of them were malnourished with BMI less than 18.50 The determination of health related interventions was to improve the wellbeing status of the study population [16]. In current study before intervention, 67% tuberculosis patients were having BMI less than normal range.…”