A nutritional program to improve pregnant women’s health and their newborns’ in Benin

In Benin, malnutrition affects 1.1 million children and is the leading risk factor for mortality and morbidity among children, adolescents and youth. For expectant mothers, malnutrition is also a major risk factor for babies born with low birth weight, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and maternal mortality. Benin's past nutrition programs have had limited impact in reducing stunted growth and low weight among newborns.

In response to these deficits, a pilot of the nutrition program was conducted between 2004 and 2007 and found that pregnant women who received individualized medical follow-up and prenatal nutrition education were more likely to reach their recommended weight, as were their newborns (Villalon and Acakpo, 2010). The innovative aspect of this intervention is underscored by several key elements, including its ambulatory approach to deliver care and additional benefits to pregnant women, its adaptability to local food availability and the affordability of food within the community.

The Adequate Nutrition Program for Pregnant Women and Fetal Ultrasound Monitoring (ANPWF) aims to set up individualized nutritional monitoring of pregnant women, as well as fetal growth monitoring, in order to reduce low weight among newborns. The aim of the PNAFF is to prevent the risk of underweight births by studying several factors related to the situation of pregnant women: her socio-demographic, socio-cultural and economic characteristics, her nutritional and obstetrical characteristics, and factors related to health fetus.

The program has several components: outpatient services, assessments of women's nutritional status during pregnancy, individualized nutrition care adapted to specific needs, and activities centered around nutritional awareness.

FID's funding will allow to implement the Adequate Nutrition Program for Pregnant Women and Fetal Ultrasound Monitoring (ANPWF) in 24 towns in Benin, and to carry out an impact evaluation of the program.

The objective of the impact evaluation funded by FID is to determine whether Adequate Nutrition Program for Pregnant Women and Fetal Ultrasound Monitoring (ANPWF):

• reduces the prevalence of underweight newborns by 25%
• reduces infant mortality rates in the 24 towns covered by the program
• reduce proportion of preterm births by 25%
• reducing the proportion of malnourished pregnant women by 25%
• reduce the proportion of women with inadequate weight gain during pregnancy by 25%
• reducing the fetal-maternal mortality rate by 25%