Peer-reviewed article

Impact of child nutrition training for mothers on the nutritional status of children: a propensity score matching approach

S.M. Ashraf Hossain, Md. Elias Hossain · 15 Nov 2022

Abstract

Background: Since mothers are the primary caregivers of children under five, their nutritional status depends on their mothers' capacity to feed and nurture them properly. However, mothers' poor child-feeding practices can also lead to child malnutrition. Mothers' nutritional education and childcare habits can improve children's health through child nutrition training. This study examines how child nutrition training for mother affects children's nutritional status in the impoverished Northern Bangladesh.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, total of 300 mothers have been interviewed and data on demographic, socioeconomic, and child-specific related issues are gathered using simple random sampling from the study areas. The data comprise both treatment and control groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) method is applied to examine impact of child nutrition training for mothers on nutritional status of children in terms of stunting, wasting, and underweight.Results: Empirical results of PSM revealed that the children whose mothers have received trainings have lower prevalence of stunting (0.357 SD), wasting (0.646 SD), and underweight (0.935 SD) as suggested by the average treatment effect on the treated.Conclusions: In summary, this study found positive impact of child nutrition training programs. Therefore, it suggests that the government and NGOs should formulate better and expanded programs focusing on training mothers for the betterment of children’s nutritional status.