Integrated Community-Based Nutrition Interventions Improve Diet Quality, Food, and Credit Access among Rural Women in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Globally, micronutrient deficiencies are widespread in women due to poor diet quality and elevated needs of the subgroup. Undernutrition, specifically micronutrient deficiencies, is a major problem in Ghana, especially in northern Ghana during the prolonged dry/lean season. Recent data indicate high prevalence of poor-quality diets intake among women, which buttresses the observed high prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies in northern Ghana. In this study, we investigated the potential of integrated community-based interventions (ICI) to improve diet quality and food access in a quasi-experimental study. The experimental design comprised an experimental group of women (n = 150) from the Sakaa and Nakolo communities and a control group of women (n = 123) from the Bonia and Bugani communities. The experimental group was provided with credit access and solar-powered irrigation facility for dry-season community gardening, while the control group had access to only credit. The study revealed that during the dry/lean season, when food and nutrition insecurity is historically at its worst, ICI significantly improved diet quality (p≤0.0001), access to food, and credit access. Our findings suggest that ICI is an effective approach in tackling food and nutrition insecurity in Northern Ghana than standalone interventions. While the findings from our study are encouraging, we acknowledge that more long-term research is necessary.