Objectives
To describe the influence of attending CMNHN family meetings on pregnant women’s performance of essential nutrition actions (ENA)
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional birth audit with a random sample of 366 women who gave birth from April to June 2015. The audit elicited data on receipt of ANC, CMNHN Family Meeting attendance and 6 ENA- eating iron, calcium and iodine rich foods, iron and Mebendazole supplementation, and using insecticide treated bed-nets (ITN) . We conducted simple descriptive, independent t-test, bivariate and regression analyses.
Results
Over half (58%) of women had attended >2 CMNHN family meetings; compared with women who attended < 2 meetings, these women were more likely to have followed dietary recommendations (71% versus 35%, p<0.001), eaten iron, calcium, and iodine rich foods (65% versus 30%, 75% versus 50%, and 55% versus 11%, respectively, all p<0.001); have been dewormed (29% versus 60%, p<0.001), and have used ITN (65% versus 84%, P<0.001). Average number of ANC visits and duration of iron supplementation also increased (2.8 versus 3.6 visits and 2.7 versus 3.7 months, respectively).Regression results supports these findings-- attending >2 CMNHN meetings was associated with nearly 2 – 8 fold increase in performance of the ENA except iron supplementation, controlling for maternal age, education, district, having an accessible health post and having attended > 4 ANC (p<0.05). There was a positive dose response in number of family meetings attended and number of ENA performed (Ã,0.6; 95%CI, 0.52 - 0.72, p<0.001).
Conclusions
CMNHN family meeting attendance is associated with significant improvement in women’s performance of ENA.
