Reach and impact of a nationwide media campaign in Ethiopia for promoting safe breastfeeding practices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: In response to the COVID-19 challenge and the consequent concerns and misconceptions about potential mother-to-child virus transmission, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, launched a 3-month nationwide media campaign to promote appropriate and safe breastfeeding practices using national and regional television and radio channels, as well as social media. This study assesses the reach and impact of a media campaign in Ethiopia on improving mothers', partners'/caregivers', and the public's awareness of and practices related to appropriate and safe breastfeeding.

Methods: A two-round mobile survey was conducted using random digit dialing (RDD) and an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

Estimating the minimal cost of delivering nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopia Food and Nutrition Strategy (FNS 2021-2030) aims to provide evidence-based, nutrition-specific, and sensitive interventions to address malnutrition. A costing exercise was done to estimate the minimum financing needed to implement nutrition interventions for the ten-year FNS, and further analysis was made to estimate the investment required to implement the prioritised recommended Lancet series interventions for 10 years. Activity-based costing methodology was used to carry out the FNS costing for nutrition interventions prioritised by the different line ministries, and then estimated costs to implement the 2021 recommended Lancets interventions were examined from the FNS.

Anemia and Iron Supplementation in Relation to Viral Load and Mortality among 70,442 People Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Tanzania.

Background: Anemia may be associated with poor clinical outcomes among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PLHIV) despite highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). There are concerns that iron supplementation may be unsafe to prevent and treat anemia among PLHIV.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the associations of anemia and iron supplementation with mortality and viral load among PLHIV in Tanzania.

Co-occurrence of Overweight, Stunting, and Anemia among Adolescents (10-19 Years) in Tanzania Mainland: A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Evidence on double and triple burdens of malnutrition among adolescents is an essential key to informing policy design, implementation, and tracking progress of adolescent nutritional programs. Tanzania has a scarcity of studies on the double and triple burden of malnutrition among adolescents.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the co-occurrence of malnutrition (overweight, stunting, and anemia) among adolescents (10-19 y) in mainland Tanzania.

Nutrition counselling and clinical outcomes in HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: People living with the HIV (PLHIV) are at an increased risk of various diseases due to a weakened immune system, particularly if they are naïve or poorly adherent to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Nutrients play a critical role in improving immune health, especially among this population. We systematically reviewed the evidence concerning the impact of nutritional counselling on the occurrence of important clinical outcomes among PLHIV.

Women's input and decision-making in agriculture are associated with diet quality in rural Tanzania.

Background: Women's empowerment is one critical pathway through which agriculture can impact women's nutrition; however, empirical evidence is still limited. We evaluated the associations of women's participation, input, and decision-making in key agricultural and household activities with women's diet quality.

Methods: We analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of 870 women engaged in homestead agriculture.

Influence of diet quality on nutritional status of school-aged children and adolescents in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Background: Malnutrition among young children and adolescents poses a serious health challenge in developing countries which results in many health problems during adulthood. Poor diet quality is known as the root cause of malnutrition which is caused by unhealthy food choices and bad eating habits among young children and adolescents. However, limited evidence is available on diet quality and its association with nutrition status among young children and adolescents in Zanzibar.

Dietary Iron Intake and HIV-Related Outcomes Among Adults Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy in Tanzania.

Objective: Anemia is highly prevalent among people living with HIV (PLWHIV) and is often due to iron deficiency. This study evaluated the relationship of dietary iron intake levels and sources with mortality and clinical outcomes among adults initiating HAART.

Design: We conducted a secondary analysis of a multivitamin supplementation trial among 2293 PLWHIV initiating HAART in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Ethiopia National Food and Nutrition Survey to inform the Ethiopian National Food and Nutrition Strategy: a study protocol.

Introduction: Ethiopia has made significant progress in reducing malnutrition in the past two decades. Despite such improvements, a substantial segment of the country's population remains chronically undernourished and suffers from micronutrient deficiencies and from increasing diet-related non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. This survey aims to assess anthropometric status, dietary intake and micronutrient status of Ethiopian children, women and adolescent girls.

Dietary intake and quality for young adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: Status and influencing factors.

Adolescents face the risk of the triple burden of malnutrition-the co-existence of micronutrient deficiencies, underweight and overweight and obesity and related noncommunicable diseases. Poor-quality diets are a modifiable risk factor for all forms of malnutrition in adolescents. However, there is limited knowledge about diet quality for African adolescents.

Adolescent health and well-being in sub-Saharan Africa: Strengthening knowledge base and research capacity through a collaborative multi-country school-based study.

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), adolescents make up around one-quarter of the population who are growing up in a rapidly urbanizing environment, with its associated risks and benefits, including impacts on health, psychosocial development, nutrition, and education. However, research on adolescents' health and well-being in SSA is limited. The ARISE (African Research, Implementation Science and Education) Network's Adolescent Health and Nutrition Study is an exploratory, school-based study of 4988 urban adolescents from five countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania.

Food environment around schools and adolescent consumption of unhealthy foods in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Adolescent diets may be influenced by the retail food environment around schools. However, international research to examine associations between the proximity of retail food outlets to schools and diet provides equivocal support for an association. This study aims to understand the school food environment and drivers for adolescents' consumption of unhealthy foods in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Factors influencing the sustainability of homestead vegetable production intervention in Rufiji, Tanzania: A cross-sectional mixed methods study.

There is growing evidence that home vegetable gardening interventions improve food security and nutrition outcomes at the family level. Sustainability of many of these community interventions remain a challenge. This study assessed factors influencing the sustainability of homestead vegetable production intervention in Rufiji district, Tanzania, one year after the cessation of external support.

Stunting and thinness in school-attending adolescents in Addis Ababa.

Background: Adolescent population Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) is uncommon in low-income settings. Though Global Diet Quality Score is a good measure of dietary diversity, it has not been used in assessing nutritional outcomes among adolescents. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess school-attending adolescents stunting and thinness status and associations with global diet quality scores in Addis Ababa.

Non-specific effects of BCG and DTP vaccination on infant mortality: An analysis of birth cohorts in Ghana and Tanzania.

Background: Vaccines may induce non-specific effects on survival and health outcomes, in addition to protection against targeted pathogens or disease. Observational evidence suggests that infant Baccillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination may provide non-specific survival benefits, while diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccination may increase the risk of mortality. Non-specific vaccine effects have been hypothesized to modify the effect of neonatal vitamin A supplementation (NVAS) on mortality.

Are home gardening programs a sustainable way to improve nutrition? Lessons from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Rufiji, Tanzania.

Homestead food production (HFP) programs may improve diet and nutrition outcomes by increasing availability of nutrient dense foods such as vegetables and supporting livelihoods. We conducted a pair-matched cluster-randomized controlled trial to investigate whether vegetable home gardens could improve women's dietary diversity, household food security, maternal and child iron status, and the probability of women consuming nutrient-rich food groups. We enrolled 1,006 women of reproductive age (18-49 years) in ten villages in Pwani Region, Eastern Tanzania, matched the villages into pairs according to village characteristics, and randomly allocated villages to intervention or control.

Dietary diversity and diet quality with gestational weight gain and adverse birth outcomes, results from a prospective pregnancy cohort study in urban Tanzania.

Healthy maternal diets during pregnancy are an important protective factor for pregnancy-related outcomes, including gestational weight gain (GWG) and birth outcomes. We prospectively examined the associations of maternal dietary diversity and diet quality, using Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) and Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS), with GWG and birth outcomes among women enrolled in a trial in Tanzania (n = 1190). MDD-W and PDQS were derived from a baseline food frequency questionnaire.

The High Burden and Predictors of Anemia Among Infants Aged 6 to 12 Months in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Background: Despite several interventions, the prevalence of anemia and related complications remains high among infants in Tanzania.

Objective: We sought to determine the predictors of iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) among infants of HIV-negative women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 2826 mother-infant pairs who participated in a trial of vitamins and perinatal outcomes in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Effects of prenatal and postnatal maternal multiple micronutrient supplementation on child growth and morbidity in Tanzania: a double-blind, randomized-controlled trial.

Background: Maternal micronutrient status is critical for child growth and nutrition. It is unclear whether maternal multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS) during pregnancy and lactation improves child growth and prevents child morbidity.

Methods: This study aimed to determine the effects of prenatal and postnatal maternal MMS on child growth and morbidity.

The role of chicken management practices in children's exposure to environmental contamination: a mixed-methods analysis.

Background: Household chicken production presents an opportunity to promote child nutrition, but the benefits might be offset by increased environmental contamination. Using household surveys, direct observations, and in-depth interviews with woman caregivers, we sought to describe the relationship between chicken management practices and household exposure to environmental contamination, and assess barriers to adopting improved husbandry practices.

Methods: First, we analyzed baseline data from 973 households raising chickens in the two interventions arms from the Agriculture-to-Nutrition (ATONU) study in Ethiopia to assess the relationship between animal management practices and environmental exposures.

Food Crop Diversity, Women's Income-Earning Activities, and Distance to Markets in Relation to Maternal Dietary Quality in Tanzania.

Background: Women's dietary diversity and quality are limited in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Nutrition-sensitive interventions that promote food crop diversity and women's access to income could improve diets and address the double burden of malnutrition in LMICs.

Objectives: We examined the associations among food crop diversity and women's income-earning activities with women's diet quality, as well as effect modification by access to markets, in the context of small-holder food production in rural Tanzania.

Home gardening improves dietary diversity, a cluster-randomized controlled trial among Tanzanian women.

Homestead food production (HFP) programmes improve the availability of vegetables by providing training in growing nutrient-dense crops. In rural Tanzania, most foods consumed are carbohydrate-rich staples with low micronutrient concentrations. This cluster-randomized controlled trial investigated whether women growing home gardens have higher dietary diversity, household food security or probability of consuming nutrient-rich food groups than women in a control group.

Men's nutrition knowledge is important for women's and children's nutrition in Ethiopia.

In an effort to address undernutrition among women and children in rural areas of low-income countries, nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) and behaviour change communication (BCC) projects heavily focus on women as an entry point to effect nutritional outcomes. There is limited evidence on the role of men's contribution in improving household diets. In this Agriculture to Nutrition trial (Clinicaltrials.