Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western China
Abstract Background Rural infant growth failure has been highlighted as a priority for action in China’s national nutrition and child development policies. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of community-based intervention project on child feeding, child health care and child growth. M...
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doaj-0cdfff173f224b13a78af0ff6668b3a52020-11-24T20:57:14ZengBMCBMC Pediatrics1471-24312018-04-011811810.1186/s12887-018-1084-0Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western ChinaWeifeng Liang0Yuan Xing1Miaomiao Pang2Duolao Wang3Hong Yan4Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University College of MedicineXi’an Center for Disease Control and PreventionShaanxi Provincial Corps Hospital of Chinese People’s Armed Police ForceDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University College of MedicineAbstract Background Rural infant growth failure has been highlighted as a priority for action in China’s national nutrition and child development policies. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of community-based intervention project on child feeding, child health care and child growth. Methods From 2001 to 2005, UNICEF and China’s Ministry of Health worked together to develop holistic strategies for child health care. All the interventions were implemented through the three-tier (county-township-village) rural health care network.In this study, 34 counties were included in both surveys in 2001 and 2005. Among these 34 counties, nine were subjected to the intervention and 25 counties were used as controls. In nine intervention counties, leaflets containing information of supplemental feeding of infants and young children were printed and distributed to women during hospital delivery or visit to newborn by village doctors. Two cross-sectional surveys were both conducted from July to early September in 2001 and 2005. We calculated Z-scores of height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ) and weight-for-height (WHZ), with the new WHO growth standard. HAZ < − 2 was defined as stunting, WAZ < − 2 was defined as underweight, and WHZ < − 2 was defined as wasting. Results Following the four-year study period, the parents in the intervention group showed significantly better infant and young child feeding practices and behaviors of child care than did their control group counterparts. In addition, all three anthropometric indicators in 2005 in the intervention group were better than in the control, with stunting 4.9% lower (p < 0.001), underweight 2.2% lower (p < 0.001), and wasting 1.0% lower (p < 0.05). Conclusions We concluded that the health care education intervention embed in government had the potential to be successfully promoted in rural western China.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12887-018-1084-0Rural western ChinaChild feeding practicesBreastfeedingComplementary foodsStunting |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Weifeng Liang Yuan Xing Miaomiao Pang Duolao Wang Hong Yan |
spellingShingle |
Weifeng Liang Yuan Xing Miaomiao Pang Duolao Wang Hong Yan Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western China BMC Pediatrics Rural western China Child feeding practices Breastfeeding Complementary foods Stunting |
author_facet |
Weifeng Liang Yuan Xing Miaomiao Pang Duolao Wang Hong Yan |
author_sort |
Weifeng Liang |
title |
Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western China |
title_short |
Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western China |
title_full |
Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western China |
title_fullStr |
Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western China |
title_full_unstemmed |
Community health education improves child health care in Rural Western China |
title_sort |
community health education improves child health care in rural western china |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
BMC Pediatrics |
issn |
1471-2431 |
publishDate |
2018-04-01 |
description |
Abstract Background Rural infant growth failure has been highlighted as a priority for action in China’s national nutrition and child development policies. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of community-based intervention project on child feeding, child health care and child growth. Methods From 2001 to 2005, UNICEF and China’s Ministry of Health worked together to develop holistic strategies for child health care. All the interventions were implemented through the three-tier (county-township-village) rural health care network.In this study, 34 counties were included in both surveys in 2001 and 2005. Among these 34 counties, nine were subjected to the intervention and 25 counties were used as controls. In nine intervention counties, leaflets containing information of supplemental feeding of infants and young children were printed and distributed to women during hospital delivery or visit to newborn by village doctors. Two cross-sectional surveys were both conducted from July to early September in 2001 and 2005. We calculated Z-scores of height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ) and weight-for-height (WHZ), with the new WHO growth standard. HAZ < − 2 was defined as stunting, WAZ < − 2 was defined as underweight, and WHZ < − 2 was defined as wasting. Results Following the four-year study period, the parents in the intervention group showed significantly better infant and young child feeding practices and behaviors of child care than did their control group counterparts. In addition, all three anthropometric indicators in 2005 in the intervention group were better than in the control, with stunting 4.9% lower (p < 0.001), underweight 2.2% lower (p < 0.001), and wasting 1.0% lower (p < 0.05). Conclusions We concluded that the health care education intervention embed in government had the potential to be successfully promoted in rural western China. |
topic |
Rural western China Child feeding practices Breastfeeding Complementary foods Stunting |
url |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12887-018-1084-0 |
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