Intermittent iron folate supplementation: impact on hematinic status and growth of school girls.

Unlabelled: In view of high iron needs for adolescent growth, this paper studied the impact of daily vs. intermittent (once and twice weekly) iron folic acid (IFA) supplementation on hemoglobin levels and pubertal growth among primary school girls in early adolescence (9-13 years) of Vadodara, India. Methods.

Growing normally in an urban environment: positive deviance among slum children of Vadodara, India.

Objective: To assess factors contributing to positive deviance among the urban poor of Vadodara city.

Methods: Mothers of sixty 6-18 mo old children- 30 each in positive deviant (PD: normal by weight-age) and negative deviant (ND: grade II by weight-age) groups-were interviewed through home visits using semi-structured questionnaires.

Results: Factors contributing significantly to PD (p < 0.

Impact of iron-folic acid supplementation on cognitive abilities of school girls in Vadodara.

Objectives: To assess impact of daily and intermittent iron-folate (IFA) supplementation on cognition of underprivileged primary schoolgirls in Vadodara.

Design: Experimental-control longitudinal study.

Setting: Municipal primary schools.

Grandmothers' influence on child care.

Objective: This paper compares child care-giving and child's nutritional status among rural families where grandmothers were present and those where grandmothers were absent.

Methods: From 27 villages in rural Vadodara, four were randomly selected and all the families (n=31) with children (3-24 months) where grandmothers were present (GMP) were compared with 39 families where grandmothers were absent (GMA). Semi structured questionnaires were used to assess beliefs-practices of mothers and grandmothers regarding breastfeeding and complementary feeding (BF-CF).

Women's perceptions of iron deficiency and anemia prevention and control in eight developing countries.

The World Health Organization estimates that 58% of pregnant women in developing countries are anemic. In spite of the fact that most ministries of health in developing countries have policies to provide pregnant women with iron in a supplement form, maternal anemia prevalence has not declined significantly where large-scale programs have been evaluated. During the period 1991-98, the MotherCare Project and its partners conducted qualitative research to determine the major barriers and facilitators of iron supplementation programs for pregnant women in eight developing countries.

Toward better compliance with iron-folic acid supplements: understanding the behavior of poor urban pregnant women through ethnographic decision models in Vadodara, India.

This study made an attempt to develop ethnographic decision models to understand and improve iron-folic acid supplement procurement and compliance-related behaviors of poor urban pregnant women in Vadodara, India, based on data obtained through the use of qualitative research tools. Open-ended, in-depth interviews were conducted with 36 pregnant women (17-32 weeks of gestation) purposively selected from four urban slums. Fortnightly home visits were made to the houses of 20 pregnant women-family member pairs to elicit behaviors related to iron-folic acid supplement procurement and compliance at the household level, from which the ethnographic decision models were developed.