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Poverty reduction program for extreme poor in Bangladesh improves nutritional status of preschool children
Author(s) -
Jalal Chowdhury Sufi Bhakta,
Frongillo Edward A
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.352.1
Subject(s) - poverty , environmental health , extreme poverty , test (biology) , demography , medicine , psychology , socioeconomics , economic growth , economics , sociology , paleontology , biology
Poverty alleviation programs for the extreme poor improve participants' economic status and may impact other important outcomes that are seldom evaluated. A program targeted to the extreme poor by BRAC, a development organization in Bangladesh, has been successful in significantly alleviating extreme poverty. We hypothesized that the program also improved nutritional status (i.e., weight‐for‐height) of preschool children. A non‐equivalent control, pre‐ and post‐test quasi‐experimental design that was longitudinal at village level was used to test the hypotheses. Data were collected from a random sample of 4131 (1934 program and 2197 control) children from 3409 households across 169 villages of 3 northern districts of Bangladesh in 2002 and 2006. Linear mixed random‐intercept models accounted for clustering effects and potential confounders. Weight‐for‐height of children between ages 24‐35 months of program households was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of control households. We found no significant program‐control difference in other age categories of preschool children. These results are highly important as this is a large‐scale program already extended to half of the country. Findings will contribute in judging the cost‐benefit and cost‐effectiveness of the program, and in garnering support for the expansion of such programs.