Targeting School Feeding Programs at Vulnerable Sub-Groups

Malnutrition Clinical Trial

Official title:

Study of School Feeding Programs' Impact on Anemia Status in Pre-adolescent Girls and Other Vulnerable Household Members in a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Uganda

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01261182
• Other study ID #: WB-7135830
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: December 14, 2010
• Last updated: December 14, 2010

Study information

• Verified date: December 2010
• Source: International Food Policy Research Institute
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Uganda: Makerere University School of Public Health Internal Review BoardUganda: National Counsel for Science and Technology
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

School feeding programs provide students meals conditional on school attendance, which can have impacts on school participation, cognition and learning, and nutritional outcomes. Although the literature on impacts of school feeding programs is substantial, high quality studies with evaluation designs that provide causal impact estimates are relatively few. Thus program impacts on educational, cognitive and nutritional outcomes are not well-understood, particularly in a field setting. Nutritional impacts in particular are questionable, which may be a result program design. Most studies provide only small transfers to children and examine average macro-nutrient effects of the transfer on the treated children, thus it is not surprising that detection of nutritional gains has been minimal.

This study is a cluster-randomized evaluation of a school feeding program administered by the World Food Programme in the Northern Ugandan Districts of Lira and Pader. The program provides substantially larger food rations than most programs (representing 1/3 of children's daily caloric needs and 99% of iron intake requirements).

The key research objectives are:

1. Impact on the treated: Assess the effectiveness of the program at improving nutritional status, education and cognitive and learning outcomes for school-age children, with particular attention to the anemia status of older school-age girls .

2. Impact on untreated but nutritionally vulnerable sub-groups: Assess the effectiveness of the program at reducing anemia prevalence in mothers and younger siblings.

3. Optimal program design: Assess the differential impacts of a program in which children are fed at school compared with one in which they are given dry rations to bring home.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 2083
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 6 Years to 13 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• School age children

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Prevention

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Cognition
• Malnutrition

Intervention

Other:
• In School Feeding
The intervention provides meals consisting of 1049 kcals of energy, 32.6 gm protein, and 24.9 gm fat per child per school day and meet at least two thirds of the child's daily vitamin and mineral requirements, including 99 percent of iron requirements. SFP delivers these nutrients in the form of a fortified corn-soy porridge around mid-morning and beans and maize meal or rice at lunch.
• Take Home Rations
The rations provided in the intervention are equal in size and composition to the food received in the in-school feeding intervention, but are provided to households once per month.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Uganda	Lira District	Lira
Uganda	Pader District	Pader

Sponsors (5)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
International Food Policy Research Institute	Makerere University, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), World Bank

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Uganda, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Mothers' and Children's Nutritional Status		15 months	No
Secondary	Cognitive Performance		15 months	No
Secondary	School achievement		15 months	No
Secondary	School Participation		15 months	No