Comparison of the costs of compliance with nutrition education messages to improve the diets of Bangladeshi breastfeeding mothers and weaning‐age children

Local market prices in rural Bangladesh were used to compute the costs of filling the nutrient gaps between actual intakes and safe nutrient requirements, and the costs of compliance with nutrition messages, for 78 lactating mothers and 61 weaning‐age breastfed children. (The gap is the difference between the requirement and the amount of the nutrient consumed.) To fill the mother's energy gap of approximately 1050 kcal (4393 kJ) would cost an additional 21% of the daily wage, or almost double the value of food she was presently eating. Given social reality, these costs would probably be much greater, as the mother would also need to increase the allocation of food to other household members. The weaning‐age children's energy gap could theoretically be closed for less than one‐third of the cost of improving the mothers’ diets, or about 8% of the daily wage. The increase in food intake equivalent to 2% of the daily wage actually achieved through nutrition education resulted in a significant improvement in child weight gain, though not ideal. These findings suggest that, in the absence of programs which reduce economic barriers, it is economically feasible for families to close the nutrient gaps for weaning‐age breastfed children in Bangladesh, but not for lactating women. Thus, education to improve women's diets should be incorporated into programs that make these improvements affordable, whereas education to improve weaning‐age children's diets can be implemented with or without other program supports.

Key words:

• nutrition education
• weaning food
• breastfeeding
• women
• children
• food costs. Bangladesh