| Abstract |
In 2013, Save the Children and national partners in Mali intoduced an integrated parenting, nutrition and malaria prevention package in villages with community pre-schools in southern Mali. The aim of the programme is to reduce the incidence of clinical malaria, the prevalence of anemia and stunting, and improve cognitive development in children under 5 years by combining two newly recommended nutrition and malaria interventions in early childhood: home fortification with micronutrient powders and seasonal malaria chemoprevention. The programme which targets all children in the community is delivered through the pre-existing infrastructure of community-based Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers, previously established in the study area by Save the Children.
There have been no previous studies examining the combined impact of these two newly recommended malaria and nutrition interventions in early childhood. In addition, whilst each disease control and nutritional intervention has previously been shown to bring substantial gains in child survival and physical growth, the benefits for cognitive and linguistic development are comparatively unknown. Most intervention trials typically focus either on health or educational outcomes, rarely both. The impact of an integrated package of ECD, malaria and nutrition interventions on a child’s physical and cognitive development over the first 5-6 years of life, and learning as children transition into school has not previously been examined. This study aimed to address this key gap in knowledge, whilst providing evidence of the operational feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the approach. |
