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Changing household dietary behaviours through community-based networks: A pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial in rural Kerala, India

Equity Focus

The study targets intervention strategies to improve dietary behaviour in rural areas in Kerala, India, to increase consumption and procurement of fruits and vegetables and to reduce consumption of salt, sugar and oil at the household level.

Case Summary

The intervention enabled significant reduction in salt, sugar and oil consumption and improvement in fruit and vegetable procurement at the household level in the intervention arm. However, there was a disconnect between the demonstrated increase in fruit and vegetable procurement and the lack of increase in fruit and vegetable intake.

Lessons Learned

• This study has demonstrated that community volunteers particularly in a highly literate state like Kerala, can deliver complex interventions; provided they receive adequate training and the knowledge has been appropriately translated into a form that can be used by them. This would also make such interventions potentially sustainable in the long run as training of community volunteers and constant reinforcement of this knowledge would raise the basic knowledge and practice levels in communities of which they are a part. However, challenges associated with maintaining volunteer motivation and finding a sustainable remuneration model for their continued work are well known and are applicable in this setting as well. 

LINK TO CASE STUDY