A comparison of intervention strategies to improve helminthiasis, nutrition and cognitive status among school-age children in helminth endemic farming and fishing areas in Ghana
Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cogent Food & Agriculture
Abstract
To evaluate the impact of intervention strategies on helminthiasis, the
nutritional and cognitive status of School-Age Children (SAC), we conducted
a community trial with 4 intervention arms; “Nutrition Education Only” (NutEd),
“Supplementation Only” (Suppl), “Nutrition Education+Supplementation” (NutEd
+Suppl) versus a ‘Non-intervention‘(Control) group. The intervention was conducted
on 358 SAC from 8 randomly selected schools (4 schools from fishing and 4 schools
from farming communities) in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District of Ghana. Data
were collected at baseline, third, and sixth-month post-intervention. Data were
obtained through questionnaire, anthropometry, parasitology (faecal and urine
analysis), hemoglobin levels (Hb) and whole blood zinc levels. The Ravens Colored
Progressive Matrices (RCPM) were used for the cognitive assessment. At baseline,
the overall helminthiasis prevalence was 29.6%, which decreased to 6.3% at the
6th-month post-intervention. About 7.5% of all the children were underweight,
11.2% were stunted, 21.5% were acutely malnourished, 46.1% were anemic and
31.4% were zinc deficient. These decreased to 5.3% (underweight), 8.5% (stunting),
9.8% (acute malnutrition), 16.1% (anemia) and 9.3% (zinc deficiency), respectively,
at the 6th-month post-intervention. At baseline, 15.6% of the children passed the
cognitive test which increased to 32.4% at the 6th-month post-intervention. The
“NutEd” treatment recorded the most significantly improved of bmi-for-age z-score
(0.27 ± 0.88, p = 0.002), height-for-age z-score (0.16 ± 0.38, p < 0.0001) and anemia (Hb levels; 1.22 ± 1.13 g/dL, p < 0.0001), The “NutEd+Suppl” group recorded the
highest improvement in zinc levels (46.39 ± 22.30 µmol/L, p < 0.0001) and the
“Suppl” group the highest improvement in cognitive performance (3.08 ± 6.07, p <
0.0001) between the baseline and the 6th-month post-intervention.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
nutrition education, micronutrient, micronutrient;
Citation
To cite this article: M. A. Tandoh, F. C. Mills-Robertson, R. A. Annan, M. D. Wilson & A. K. Anderson (2023) A comparison of intervention strategies to improve helminthiasis, nutrition and cognitive status among school-age children in helminth endemic farming and fishing areas in Ghana, Cogent Food & Agriculture, 9:1, 2201032, DOI: 10.1080/23311932.2023.2201032