A macro- and micronutrient-fortified complementary food supplement reduced acute infection, improved haemoglobin and showed a dose-response effect in improving linear growth: a 12-month cluster randomised trial.

Inadequate protein quality may be a risk factor for poor growth. To examine the effect of a macronutrient-micronutrient supplement KOKO Plus (KP), provided to infants from 6 to 18 months of age, on linear growth, a single-blind cluster-randomised study was implemented in Ghana. A total of thirty-eight communities were randomly allocated to receive KP (fourteen communities, 322), a micronutrient powder (MN, thirteen communities, 329) and nutrition education (NE, eleven communities, 319).

Assessing Program Coverage of Two Approaches to Distributing a Complementary Feeding Supplement to Infants and Young Children in Ghana.

The work reported here assesses the coverage achieved by two sales-based approaches to distributing a complementary food supplement (KOKO Plus™) to infants and young children in Ghana. Delivery Model 1 was conducted in the Northern Region of Ghana and used a mixture of health extension workers (delivering behavior change communications and demand creation activities at primary healthcare centers and in the community) and petty traders recruited from among beneficiaries of a local microfinance initiative (responsible for the sale of the complementary food supplement at market stalls and house to house). Delivery Model 2 was conducted in the Eastern Region of Ghana and used a market-based approach, with the product being sold through micro-retail routes (i.

Improving complementary feeding in Ghana: reaching the vulnerable through innovative business--the case of KOKO Plus.

Reaching vulnerable populations in low-resource settings with effective business solutions is critical, given the global nature of food and nutrition security. Over a third of deaths of children under 5 years of age are directly or indirectly caused by undernutrition. The Lancet series on malnutrition (2013) estimates that over 220,000 lives of children under 5 years of age can be saved through the implementation of an infant and young child feeding and care package.