Background. Low caregiver income and poor nutrition
knowledge and skills are important barriers to achieving
optimal child feeding in rural Ghana.
Objective. An integrated microcredit and nutrition
education intervention was implemented to address
these barriers.
Methods. Using a quasi-experimental design, 134
caregivers of children 2 to 5 years of age in six intervention
communities were enrolled into self-selected savings
and loan groups. They received small individual loans
over four 16-week cycles to support their income-generating
activities. Nutrition and entrepreneurial education
was provided during weekly loan repayment meetings.
Another 261 caregivers in six comparison communities
did not receive the intervention. Data on household
sociodemographic and economic characteristics, perception
of income-generating activity profits, and children’s
consumption of animal-source foods in the previous week
were collected at baseline and at four additional time
points. Differences according to group (intervention vs.
control) and time (baseline vs. endline) were analyzed
with chi-square and Student’s t-tests.
Results. The intervention and comparison groups did
not differ by caregivers’ age and formal education; few
(35) had previous experience with microcredit loans. At
endline, more intervention than comparison caregivers
perceived that their business profits had increased
(59% vs. 23%, p < .001). In contrast to comparison children,
after 16 months of intervention children consumed
more livestock meat (p = .001), organ meat (p = .04),
eggs (p = .001), and milk and milk products (p < .0001)
in the previous week in comparison with baseline.
Conclusions. Integrated food-centered strategies can
improve children’s diets, which will enhance their nutritional
status, health, and cognitive outcomes.