Climate-sensitive nutrients, undernutrition and malaria

The project P2 addresses the projected agricultural losses based on the current CO2 emissions until 2050 and their consequences for the nutritional status of children under-5 years of age living in two selected regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The intervention focuses on bio-diversification of subsistence farming by home gardens, and is accompanied by nutrition and health counselling using the 7 Essential Nutrition Action messages by the World Health Organization. For sub-Saharan Africa, bio-diversification constitutes one of the most promising and practicable adaptation strategies for CO2-dependent agricultural losses, for both, the absolute amounts of crops and for the plant contents of protein, iron and zinc. As a novelty, P2 identifies the controversially discussed, potential effects of such an agriculture and nutrition program on the risk of clinical malaria in children under-5 years of age. In the first project phase, the adaptation program was tailored to the needs of the Kenyan region in collaboration with Siaya County Ministries of Health and Agriculture and the non-governmental organization Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship (CABE). The horticultural crops to be cultivated and the practicability and the acceptability of the program were determined. A clusterrandomized controlled trial with 2 x 600 households was implemented. Households with children at the age of complementary feed introduction (6-24 months) were recruited and followed them up for 1 year. In phase 2, the project will establish the effects of the intervention program on changes in dietary habits, the status of climate-sensitive nutrients, and the risk of clinical malaria among the children after 2 years. Necessary investments to scale-up such intervention programs to the provincial, state, and national levels will be defined. Lastly, the research will generate adaptation-response functions characterizing the effects of the agricultural bio-diversification and nutrition counselling program under future climate scenarios.

Project details

Climate Change
Health Systems
Impact of Interventions
Operational Research
Vulnerable Populations

Jan 2019

Burkina Faso
Kenya