Generating Indicators of Appropriate Feeding of Children 6 through 23 Months from the KPC 2000+

摘要

Nutrition interventions designed to improve complementary feeding practices are one component of many child survival and health programs. Program planners and managers need indicators of adequate or optimal complementary feeding for a variety of purposes. For example, indicators are needed to establish the baseline prevalence of key feeding practices and to assess progress towards objectives. In USAID-funded Child Survival and Health projects, Knowledge, Practices and Coverage (KPC) surveys are used as a tool for gathering quantitative information on a range of practices, including complementary feeding practices. The KPC survey tool also includes a set of tabulation guidelines for recommended indicators. The current KPC questionnaire (KPC 2000+) includes a set of questions about complementary feeding. Respondents are asked about foods and liquids given to the sample child the previous day, and about frequency of feeding. However, the tabulation plan currently includes only one indicator incorporating this information, for ages 6-9 months only. There are no recommended indicators defined to summarize the information gathered on the quality of complementary feeding across the relevant age-range (6-23 months). This document suggests a set of indicators to fill that gap (see Tables A and B on following pages). A total of twenty-five indicators are listed in the Tables. We emphasize throughout the document that this list should be viewed as a menu, from which project managers can select those indicators most relevant to their information needs. We particularly focus on indicators related to the nutrient content of complementary food for infants and children 6-23 months of age, and suggest indicators for dietary diversity, animal- source foods eaten the previous day, and vitamin A-rich plant foods eaten the previous day. Indicators for appropriate frequency of feeding and for avoidance of bottle use are also proposed.