Promising PVO Strategies in Growth Monitoring and Promotion: A Report on a Workshop Sponsored by Nutrition Communication Project of the Academy for Educational Development in Coordination with the Office of Nutrition of A.I.D. Held in Washington, DC. on June 15-17, 1989

摘要

Growth monitoring and promotion (GM/P) offer an opportunity to improve child health through early detection of growth faltering and through reinforcement of adequate growth. However, the implementation of GM/P is difficult for the following reasons: it depends on the preventative concept that poor growth means poor health; it uses a tool (the growth chart) that is widely misread and misused; its messages must be built on an in-depth understanding of health beliefs, practices, and resources; and its cost efficiency is hard to document. These workshop proceedings discuss ways in which private voluntary organizations have identified and solved problems related to GM/P. Three major topics are covered: program design, communications, and GM/P techniques and tools. Case studies are presented on efforts in The Gambia, the Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Bolivia, Ghana, Haiti, Ecuador, and India. A major finding of the workshop is that GM/P is not a good entry point for working with a community that has had no previous primary health care or child survival programs.