Bringing Dietary Diversity to the Table: Lessons from an Integrated Communication Strategy in Bangladesh: Abstract

"ANF4W [Affordable Nutritious Foods for Women] approached the overall communication strategy using three prongs or sub-components: Food purchase and consumption of diverse and colorful foods (including protein sources), homestead gardening as a year-round source of nutrition at very low or no cost, and 'smart' cooking for nutrient retention."

This Helen Keller International (HKI) presentation for the International SBCC Summit 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 8-10, describes a programme for women on nutrion in Bangladesh.

From the abstract:
"Food consumption patterns in Bangladesh show very little diversity at the national level among all members of the household, and particularly for women and adolescent girls. Research from Helen Keller International (HKI) has repeatedly found that although nutritious food may be available and accessible, the perception of nutritious food as expensive and unattainable for the poor, as well as culturally embedded food preferences, influences households to limit diversity in their diets. Locally available fruits and vegetables are often seen as less nutritious, with lower status associated with them, as they are cheap and not imported. Since 2013, HKI has led the German government-funded Affordable Nutritious Foods for Women (ANF4W) project in Bangladesh, which includes designing and rolling out a comprehensive nutrition communication campaign that addresses the issue of low dietary diversity within rural ultra-poor beneficiary households in two sub-districts in the northwestern part of the country. ANF4W approached the overall communication strategy using three prongs or sub-components: Food purchase and consumption of diverse and colorful foods (including protein sources), homestead gardening as a year-round source of nutrition at very low or no cost, and 'smart' cooking for nutrient retention.

Key highlights:
Endline evaluation of the pilot phase using a difference-in-difference randomized design finds the number of women consuming a minimally adequate diet is 29 percentage points higher in the treatment area than in the control area. Furthermore, the food items that increased in consumption in the treatment area include legumes (17 percent) and eggs (54 percent), which are promoted in the messaging, but not part of the homestead food production component, indicating the communication campaign’s effectiveness in enhancing the diversity in the household diet. Data also show increased production of diverse foods at home and purchase of diverse foods at the market, as well as increased income from surplus sales."