Community based research on mother and child nutrition and health- 15 years UiB collaboration in Nepal

Network talk

Dr. Ram Krishna Chandyo
Department of Global public health and primary care ( UiB)

Diarrhoea and pneumonia are still two major killer diseases among children under five in Nepal. Since 1997, the University of Bergen has collaborated with the Institute of Medicine in Nepal in several studies on mother and child nutrition and infection at Siddhi Memorial Hospital in Bhaktapur.

Apart from the effect of zinc supplements, the two institutions have also studied epidemiology and the main predictors of these diseases. Our studies have contributed to the formulation of WHO recommendation on zinc for the treatment of acute diarrhoea in children.

However, our findings did not support the use of zinc for the treatment of pneumonia in children. During this period, we extensively studied breastfeeding and complementary feeding as well as nutritional status among children and mothers in Bhaktapur. Breastfeeding is universal in this community but very few practice exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. Two thirds of the children had anaemia with  a mild degree of severity and Vitamin B12 and zinc deficiency, but not Vitamin A, D or folate deficiency. Vitamin B12 and zinc deficiencies were common among mothers but anaemia was only detected in 20 percent of the mothers.

Since February 2010, we have collaborated on a multi-site cohort study in eight countries on the interaction of malnutrition and enteric disease (Mal-Ed). The main aim of this study is to find the impact of early enteric infection on child growth and cognitive development during the first five years of life. Based on our findings from observational studies suggests a high burden of vitamin B12 deficiency.

We are now planning to conduct clinical trials among infant and pregnant mothers to test its effect on growth and cognitive development as well as pregnancy outcomes. The later studies are conducting through funds from Thrasher and The Centre for Intervention Science in Mother and Children (CISMAC) at UiB.

All are welcome!