Improving child health and development in resource-constrained settings: a multi-component study to inform policy and more effective interventions
Tran TD (Fisher J is the Mentor)
Worldwide, over 200 million children under five years of age do not reach their potential because they are stunted and have compromised cognitive, motor, and social-emotional development, setting them on poor lifetime trajectories.
This project will extend knowledge about the effects of social determinants on child malnutrition and compromised development in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) to inform policy and the development of targeted, effective interventions in disadvantaged groups worldwide.
The first component, a secondary analysis of The UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys conducted in ~ 60 LMICs, will describe the trends in the prevalence of child malnutrition in LMICs in the last 15 years.
The second, a secondary analysis of a longitudinal study in four LMICs which follows up a cohort of 8,000 children from one to 15 years of age, will examine the trajectories of child growth and development in this timeframe. It will determine the effects of factors at child, parental, family, community and country levels on the trajectories of child growth and development.
The last component is a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Vietnam to evaluate the impact of Learning Clubs for women and Infants; a structured universal program we have developed on the health of women and the health and development of their infants. This project is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Reported in:
Tran TD, Biggs B, Holton S, Nguyen H, Hanieh S, Fisher J. Co-morbid anaemia and stunting among children of pre-school age in low- and middle-income countries: a syndemic. Public Health Nutrition 2019, 22(1), 35–43, DOIs: 10.1017/S136898001800232X
Lokuketagoda BU, Thalagala N, Fonseka P, Tran T. Early Development Standards for Children Aged 2 to 12 Months in a Low-Income Setting. SAGE Open. 2016 Oct;6(4):2158244016673128. https://researchmgt.monash.edu/ws/portalfiles/portal/52958444/16788759_oa.pdf
Tran TD, Luchters S, Fisher J. Early childhood development: impact of national human development, family poverty, parenting practices and access to early childhood education. Child: Care, Health & Development 2017, 43 (3), 415–426 DOI: 10.1111/cch.12395.
Tran TD, Holton S, Nguyen H, Fisher J. Physical growth: is it a good indicator of development in early childhood in low- and middle-income countries? BMC Pediatrics 2019, 19(1), 276. doi:10.1186/s12887-019-1654-9 https://bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-019-1654-9
Fisher J, Tran T, Luchters S, Tran TD, Hipgrave D, Hanieh S, Tran H, Simpson J, Nguyen T, Le M, Biggs B-A. Addressing multiple modifiable risks through structured community-based Learning Clubs to improve maternal and infant health and infant development in rural Vietnam: protocol for a parallel group cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open 2018, 8:e023539. DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023539 https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/7/e023539
Tran TD, Hetzel B, Fisher J. Access to iodized salt in 11 low- and lower-middle-income countries: 2000 and 2010. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2016, 94:122–129. DOI: 10.2471/BLT.15.160036. https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/94/2/15-160036.pdf
Tran TD, Nguyen H, Fisher J. Attitudes towards Intimate Partner Violence against Women among Women and Men in 39 Low- and Middle-Income Countries. PLoS One 2016, 11(11):e0167438. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167438. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0167438
