Supporting maternal and child nutrition: views from community members in rural Northern Ghana

Abstract

Objective: Despite efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition, undernutrition remains a major public health challenge in Ghana. The current study explored community perceptions of undernutrition and context-specific interventions that could improve maternal and child nutrition in rural Northern Ghana. Design: This exploratory qualitative study used ten focus group discussions to gather primary data. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and coded into themes using Nvivo 12 software to aid thematic analysis. Setting: The study was conducted in rural Kassena-Nankana Districts of Northern Ghana. Study participants: Thirty-three men and fifty-one women aged 18–50 years were randomly selected from the community. Results: Most participants reported poverty, lack of irrigated agricultural land and poor harvests as the main barriers to optimal nutrition. To improve maternal and child nutrition, study participants suggested that the construction of dams at the community level would facilitate all year round farming including rearing of animals. Participants perceived that the provision of agricultural materials such as high yield seedlings, pesticides and fertiliser would help boost agricultural productivity. They also recommended community-based nutrition education by trained health volunteers, focused on types of locally produced foods and appropriate ways to prepare them to help improve maternal and child nutrition. Conclusion: Drawing on these findings and existing literature, we argue that supporting community initiated nutrition interventions such as improved irrigation for dry season farming, provision of agricultural inputs and community education could improve maternal and child nutrition.

Culture and community perceptions on diet for maternal and child health: a qualitative study in rural northern Ghana

“…Combinations of food can improve consumption and uptake of nutrients for a mother and child [26,30]. However, food taboos and household economic resources restrict the intake of nutritious foods by pregnant, lactating mothers and children [11,12].…”

“…This study was part of a larger study called the Improved Nutrition during Preconception, Pregnancy and Post-delivery project (INPreP project). The INPreP project is a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) sponsored collaborative research project coordinated by the University of Southampton, which seeks to engage with community and relevant stakeholders in optimising nutrition in the 1000 days plus period and to prioritise solutions for Ghana, Burkina Faso and South Africa [11][12][13][14].…”

Community perspectives on maternal and child health during nutrition and economic transition in sub-Saharan Africa

“…The men's guide is similar.) Participants were recruited using site-specific sampling strategies, which are described in the three other INPreP papers in this special issue (22,23,28) . All focus groups took place between January and March 2019, which is the dry season in Nanoro and Navrongo, and the rainy season in Soweto.…”

“…Previous qualitative studies have described beliefs and practices concerning food and nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, but have not explored communities' understandings of causes of and solutions to poor maternal and child nutrition. Objectives of the study reported here were therefore to explore communities' perceptions of factors affecting maternal and child nutrition in three transitioning sub-Saharan African sites and to collect ideas for context-specific solutions to maternal and child nutrition problems (22,23,28) .…”

‘Men are not playing their roles’, maternal and child nutrition in Nanoro, Burkina Faso

“…This study is embedded in a larger, multicentre study entitled INPreP (Improved Nutrition Preconception, Pregnancy and Post-Delivery), which aims to understand how and where best to engage with community and relevant stakeholders to optimise nutrition in the 1000 d plus period in Burkina Faso, Ghana and South Africa (20) . The qualitative findings from the other INPreP countries are presented in other papers in this special issue (21)(22)(23) .…”