Nutrition-Sensitive Intervention with African Indigenous Leafy Vegetables among School-Going Children in Machakos County, Kenya

View/ Open
Date
2020Author
Wakhanu, John
Nyambaka, Hudson
Nawiri, Mildred
Kimiywe, Judith
Thagana, Wilson
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The 2014 Kenya Demographic Health
Survey (KDHS) and Micronutrient Survey’s
report revealed malnutrition among children
aged 5-11 years in Kenya and recommended
diversified food-based intervention through
vegetable garden establishments to fight
malnutrition. School gardens growing African
Indigenous Leafy Vegetables (AILVs)
(Amaranthus cruentus and Vigna unguiculata)
were established at Kangundo and Kilalani
primary schools in Machakos County and
children aged 6-10 years, (Kangundo, N=66,
Kilalani, N=46) that met the inclusion criteria
participated as study subjects. There were two
phases, I (13 weeks) and II (12 weeks) with 4
weeks in between to enable interchange of the
role of the school as either experimental or
control. AILVs were grown in gardens of the
experimental school. Study subjects in the
experimental group were fed on the AILVs
recipe with an accompaniment of a mixture of
cooked maize grains and beans once a day, 5
days a week per phase. The control group fed
only on the accompaniment. Baseline and
endline study children’s serum Zn and Fe levels
were analyzed by Atomic Absorption
Spectroscopy while retinol and β-carotene by
High Performance Liquid Chromatography.
Endline analysis in both phases I and II showed
the mean serum Fe, Zn, retinol and β-carotene
were significantly higher (p < 0.001) for
respective experimental groups. Findings
support the use of vegetable garden-sourced
AILVs in schools to fight malnutrition among
school going children.
URI
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153&context=jmaphttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/20557