PhD Oral Defense: Improving the capacity of community health workers to identify and mitigate low weight-for-length in young children in Ghana
PhD Oral Defense of Matilda Essandoh Laar, Dietetics and Human Nutrition.
The Ghana Health Service鈥檚 (GHS) outreach program has expanded its reach to remote rural communities through monthly growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) community-based clinics. Even though the wasting (< -2 weight-for-length z-score [WLZ]) prevalence rate is higher than underweight in infancy, only weight is measured; no provision exists to measure length in the GHS GMP outreach service. The inadequate nutrition knowledge and poor counseling skills of community health workers (CHW) and the lack of counseling aids and tools further impede the prevention and management of wasting. The aim of this study was to determine if increasing the capacity of CHW, by providing them with appropriate tools and nutrition knowledge to identify low WLZ and offer effective nutrition counseling would affect the prevalence of wasting in children less than 2 years of age.