Publication: Qualitative Study on Nutrition- and Health-Related Knowledge Attitudes and Practices in Four High Stunting Regions of Lao PDR
Loading...
Date
2020-09
ISSN
Published
2020-09
Author(s)
Sychareun, Vanphanom
Morimoto, Tomo
Thikeo, Manivone
Durham, Jo
Thitsy, Sophavanh
Editor(s)
Abstract
Despite the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR)’s significant economic growth over the last decade, poor nutritional outcomes remain a concern. Rates of malnutrition are particularly high in remote, rural, and upland areas. Redressing these high rates of malnutrition is critical in reversing inequalities in mortality and ill-health throughout people’s lives. This report presents the results of a qualitative study to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to maternal and child health and nutrition in local communities in four provinces of Lao PDR with high levels of childhood undernutrition. While study participants were aware of the importance and benefits of antenatal care, facility-based birthing, and postnatal care, they also reported significant barriers to accessing these services. These barriers included poor road conditions and lack of transportation, long distances to health facilities, language difficulties, and lack of spousal support. With regard to infant and young child feeding, many mothers were aware of the benefits of colostrum for the first 24 hours and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and tried to put this into practice. However, some ethnic minority women stated that at times it was hard to prevent grandmothers from giving the infant water or a little chewed rice. There were mixed results when it came to growth monitoring of children. Even though mothers did participate in growth monitoring and promotion activities, most did not fully understand the reasons behind those activities. Access to clean water and appropriate sanitation facilities depended on location, but few families had access to safe water. While messages regarding handwashing and desisting from open defecation were well known in most villages, poverty and lack of support for providing safe and sustainable sanitation systems diminished the ability of many families to practice safe hygienic practices.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Sychareun, Vanphanom; Mbuya, Nkosinathi V.N.; Morimoto, Tomo; Thikeo, Manivone; Durham, Jo; Thitsy, Sophavanh. 2020. Qualitative Study on Nutrition- and Health-Related Knowledge Attitudes and Practices in Four High Stunting Regions of Lao PDR. Health, Nutrition and Population Discussion Paper;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34660 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Malnutrition in Afghanistan : Scale, Scope, Causes, and Potential Response(World Bank, 2011)This book has the potential to contribute to a reversing of this trend, whereby activities in not only the health sector but also in other sectors relevant to nutrition will gain increased support and prominence in national development planning. South Asia has by far the largest number of malnourished women and children, and no other region of the world has higher rates of malnutrition. Malnutrition in childhood is the biggest contributor to child mortality; a third of child deaths have malnutrition as an underlying cause. For the surviving children, malnutrition has lifelong implications because it severely reduces a child's ability to learn and to grow to his or her full potential. Malnutrition thus leads to less productive adults and weaker national economic performance. Therefore, the impact of malnutrition on a society's productivity and well being and a nation's long-term development is hard to underestimate. For the South Asia region of the World Bank, malnutrition is a key development priority, and in the coming years, the Bank intends to enhance dramatically its response to this challenge. As a first step, a series of country assessments such as this one are being carried out. These assessments will be used to reinforce the dialogue with governments and other development partners to scale up an evidence-based response against malnutrition. To succeed, we will need to address the problem comprehensively, which will require engaging several sectors. This assessment of malnutrition in Afghanistan lays out the scale, scope, and causes of the problem. The assessment also indicates key elements of a potential response.Publication Scaling Up Nutrition for a More Resilient Mali(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-02)This paper builds on the global experience and Mali s context to identify an effective nutrition approach as well as costs and benefits of key nutrition programs, as part of a resilience agenda after the crisis. It is intended to help guide the selection of the most cost-effective interventions as well as strategies for scaling these up. The paper looks at both relevant nutrition-specific interventions, largely delivered through the health sector, and at multisectoral nutrition-sensitive interventions delivered through other sectors such as agriculture, social protection, and water and sanitation that have the potential to strengthen nutritional outcomes in Mali. We first estimate that the costs and benefits of implementing 10 nutrition-specific interventions in all regions of Mali would require a yearly public investment of $64 million. The expected benefits are large: annually about 480,000 Disability-adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and more than 14,000 lives would be saved and over 260,000 cases of stunting among children under five would be averted. However, because it is unlikely that the Government of Mali or its partners will find the $64 million necessary to reach full national coverage, we also consider three potential scale-up scenarios based on considerations of their potential for impact, the burden of stunting, resource requirements, and implementation capacity. Using cost-benefit analyses, we propose scale-up scenarios that represent a compromise between the need to move to full coverage and the constraints imposed by limited resources. We identify and cost six nutrition-sensitive interventions that are relevant to Mali s context and for which there are both evidence of positive impact on nutrition outcomes and some cost information. These findings point to a powerful set of nutrition-specific interventions and a candidate list of nutrition-sensitive approaches that represent a highly cost-effective approach to reducing child malnutrition in Mali.Publication Persistent Malnutrition in Ethnic Minority Communities of Vietnam(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-06-19)Because malnutrition in early life significantly affects the physical and mental development of children, addressing malnutrition is fundamental to the development of Vietnam’s human capital. Economic development of the nation depends on the strength, resilience, and intelligence of its workforce. Governments dedicate millions of dollars annually to health and education, recognizing that individual losses in productivity may run as high as 10□ percent of lifetime earnings and that as much as 11 percent of GDP could be lost each year in Asia and Africa due to undernutrition. The ethnic minority groups living mainly in the northern midlands and in the mountainous and central highlands regions are consistently more undernourished than the Kinh majority. Despite decreases in stunting, the prevalence of stunting among ethnic minority children is still twice that in the Kinh ethnic group. There has been an overall decline in wasting of 1.7 percent between 2000 and 2011, although only the richest quintile showed a significant reduction (3.4 percent). These data, along with an overall decrease in the prevalence of wasting and stunting, indicate an increase in nutrition inequality between 2000 and 2011. Moreover, it is noteworthy that the ethnic minority groups constitute the majority of the undernourished populations in most of the 10 provinces with the highest rates of stunting among children under 5 years old. This analytical report describes the very high rates of malnutrition among ethnic minority populations in Vietnam. It assesses the determinants and causes, using a causal framework and systems analysis; reviews current commitments and policies directed at reducing disparities in malnutrition; examines implementation of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions, particularly those that require multisectoral coordination and collaboration; draws conclusions based on the analysis; and recommends how policies and programs can be strengthened to reduce inequities and fulfill the economic potential of all ethnic groups.Publication Prospects for Improving Nutrition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002)Under-nutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies are critical issues for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Failure to target programs to address the impact of malnutrition, has led to high rates of under-nutrition, and iron and iodine deficiencies. This report highlights the life-threatening nutrition problems confronting people in the region, and suggests strategies for change: a) improving infant feeding, particularly in Central Asia, to reduce unacceptably high rates of under-nutrition in young children; b) increasing consumption of iodized salt, to reduce compromised intelligence levels; and, c) developing programs to reduce iron deficiency anemia in women, and young children. Policymakers, and healthcare providers must develop, and deliver consistent, persuasive messages. This book aims to help raise awareness of nutrition problems in the region, and, suggests solutions for reducing malnutrition.Publication How to Protect and Promote the Nutrition of Mothers and Children in Latin America and the Caribbean(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-12-10)The study includes: glossary; references; and annexes. A number of countries in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region have been severely hit by food-price crises in 2008 and are still very vulnerable to food-price volatility experienced since late 2010. Humanitarian responses to high food prices, crises, shocks, or emergency situations should help the poor avoid the consequences of the reduced affordability of a basic food basket. This is especially crucial in the first 1,000 days of life (that is, children from pregnancy until they reach 2 years of age and breastfeeding women), since most of the physical and cognitive damages due to improper nutrition in this period are irreversible. The World Bank is leading a regional study on how to improve LAC country responses so as to protect the nutritional status of the poorest and most vulnerable in times of crises and emergencies.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.