Prevention or Cure? Comparing Preventive and Recuperative Approaches to Targeting Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Programs in Rural Haiti: Executive Summary (2007)

In preventive approaches to food-assisted maternal and child health and nutrition programs, food is provided to all children 6–24 months in target areas with a high prevalence of malnutrition. In recuperative approaches, food is used to rehabilitate children (typically those under 5 years) already suffering from malnutrition. FANTA conducted an effectiveness study in Haiti to assess whether a preventive approach is more effective in reducing child malnutrition than a recuperative approach is. After 3 years, the prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting was significantly lower in the preventive communities than in communities where a recuperative approach had been used.

The study was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Food Programme (WFP), and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), and was carried out in partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Cornell University, and World Vision/Haiti. The results were published in The Lancet under the title “Age-based preventive targeting of food assistance and behavior change and communication for reduction of childhood undernutrition in Haiti: a cluster randomized trial.”

Download the study’s executive summary