District-based Mainstreaming Nutrition Project in Rural Pakistan

Scaling up Evidence-based Nutrition Interventions to Address Maternal and Child Health Outcomes in Pakistan: a District-based Demonstration Project in Rural Sindh

This study aims to provide evidence regarding the feasibility of integrating an enhanced maternal and child care health education package into the existing curricula of the National Program for Family Planning and Primary Health Care (LHW Program) and evaluating the feasibility of scaling-up as well as the impact on birth outcomes, nutritional status, morbidity patterns and overall survival patterns at the community level.

This project aims to do the following:

• To evaluate the operational feasibility of integrating an enhanced health education and nutrition package into the existing curriculum of the National Program for FP/PHC (LHW Program)
• Impact of the implementation of the full package of evidence-based nutrition interventions on the nutrition status, morbidity patterns and overall survival patterns in the district

Inclusion Criteria:

• Live born infants and young children from all registered pregnancies within participating villages and catchment population
• pregnant women
• Consent given by at least one of the parents

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children born with congenital malformations or serious birth injury
• Suspected non-compliance (mobile and poorly motivated parents).
• Failure to give consent