Research paper
Maternal-focused interventions to improve infant growth and nutritional status in low-middle income countries: A systematic review of reviews
Study answer
What this study found
Findings show that numerous maternal-focused interventions improved infant growth or feeding outcomes in LMICs. Breastfeeding promotion, education, support and counselling consistently improved infant feeding practices and, in some cases, growth measures. Maternal mental health interventions show potential to positively influence infant growth. Additional positive signals come from women’s empowerment, m-health technologies, conditional cash transfers, water, sanitation and hygiene and agriculture interventions, especially when delivered as part of multi-sectoral programs. Most evidence…
- Study & population
- Systematic review of reviews of maternal-focused interventions in LMICs; participants targeted were mothers, pregnant women, or women of reproductive age; study designs across included reviews included randomized controlled trials and observational studies; data synthesized narratively due to heterogeneity.
- Key limitation
- Limitations include heterogeneity of interventions/outcomes, reliance on reviews with potential overlapping primary studies, inclusion of some data from high-income countries, and limited data disaggregated for infants <6 months; many primary studies had small sample sizes or quality concerns.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Background Small and nutritionally at-risk infants under 6 months (<6m) are a vulnerable group at increased risk of mortality, morbidity, poor growth and sub-optimal development. Current national and international (World Health Organization) manageme…