Peer-reviewed article
Small quantity lipid-based nutritional supplementation and measles vaccination coverage in children aged 6−23 months: a pragmatic cluster-randomized trial
Cécile Cazes, Baba Waru Goni, Delphine Gabillard, Olumuyiwa Adeyemi Owolabi, Brice Yapi et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This trial in northern Nigeria tested whether giving children a monthly small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement after routine immunization visits would raise measles vaccination coverage. Twenty clusters across two Local Government Areas were randomly assigned to the NutriVax strategy or to standard immunization services. At the endline survey, children in NutriVax clusters were about twice as likely to have a card-verified first measles dose. The authors conclude that co-delivering the supplement with routine immunization improved uptake and could be a scalable strategy.
Key points
- Twenty clusters in two Local Government Areas were randomized 1:1 to NutriVax or standard National Program of Immunization services.
- The endline survey included 1,604 children aged 12-23 months (801 control, 803 NutriVax).
- 48% of children surveyed in intervention clusters had ever received the supplement.
- Odds of card-verified MCV1 were two times higher in the NutriVax arm (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.30-3.35, P = 0.004).
- The difference-in-differences analysis showed a 20.1 percentage-point increase in MCV1 coverage relative to control (95% CI 13.7-26.5).
Limitations
The abstract reports coverage measured through repeated cross-sectional household surveys rather than following the same children, and fewer than half of children in intervention clusters had ever received the supplement. It does not describe effects on nutritional status, other vaccines, or settings beyond similar northern Nigerian areas.
Abstract
Undernutrition and infectious diseases pose a double threat to child survival, especially in areas with a high malnutrition burden and low vaccination coverage. In this study, we evaluated whether distributing preventive small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) alongside routine immunization services may increase vaccine uptake in a pediatric, pragmatic, cluster-randomized controlled trial in northern Nigeria. Twenty geographically defined clusters across two Local Government Areas were randomized 1:1 to the NutriVax strategy (intervention) or standard National Program of Immunization (NPI) services (control). NutriVax provided a monthly ration of SQ-LNS to children aged 6-23 months after routine NPI delivery at primary healthcare centers. The primary outcome was coverage of the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) verified by vaccination card among children aged 12-23 months, assessed in an endline population-based household cross-sectional survey 12 months after conducting a similar baseline survey. The endline survey included 1,604 children (801 control, 803 NutriVax); 48% of children surveyed in intervention clusters had ever received SQ-LNS. The odds of receiving card-verified MCV1 were two times higher in the NutriVax arm than in the control arm (odds ratio = 2.08, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.30-3.35, P = 0.004). The difference-in-differences, cluster conditional analysis indicated a 20.1 percentage-point (pp) increase in MCV1 coverage from baseline (95% CI: 13.7-26.5 pp, P < 0.0001) relative to the control arm. Co-delivering SQ-LNS with routine immunization substantially improved card-verified MCV1 uptake, supporting a scalable strategy to make progress toward targets set by the World Health Organization's Immunization Agenda 2030 in similar settings. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06387511 .
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- NutriVax: a monthly ration of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) given to children aged 6-23 months after routine immunization delivery at primary healthcare centers
- Population
- Children aged 6-23 months (primary outcome among those aged 12-23 months) in 20 clusters across two Local Government Areas in northern Nigeria
Key finding
Endline odds of card-verified MCV1 were 2.08 times higher in the NutriVax arm than in control (95% CI 1.30-3.35, P = 0.004).
Cazes et al. · OpenAlex · 2 Oct 2026