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Kenya - Livestock programming for improved nutrition in children under five years of age










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    Book (stand-alone)
    Livestock programming for nutritional improvements in children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating mothers
    Baseline report
    2022
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    The Livestock for Health (L4H) project is a collaborative effort between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Marsabit County Government, the National Government of Kenya, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) and Washington State University (WSU). The project was made possible through the support provided by the Office of Technical and Program Quality, Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to determine the cost-effectiveness of livestock feeding interventions and nutritional counselling in reducing the risk of malnutrition among children and women in pastoral communities during the critical dry periods. The project was designed as a cluster randomized control trial with two intervention arms and one control group. Households in Intervention Arm 1 receive livestock feeds sufficient to maintain two tropical livestock units (TLUs) for 90 days during critical dry periods or drought and 7–14 days into the rain season. Households in Intervention Arm 2 receive similar livestock feeds and regular nutritional counselling carried out by trained community healthcare workers. Households in Arm 3 are the control group and do not receive any of the two interventions during the study period. The results from this baseline survey will be essential for comparing with other data which will be collected during the routine household data collection visits (six week follow-up and quarterly household visits) for monitoring trends in household milk yield, milk consumption (amount and frequency) and nutritional status across the intervention and control arms of the study over the study period. At baseline, both the intervention and control arms were comparable in household demographics, socio-economic characteristics, household livestock ownership, milk production and consumption, and maternal and child nutritional status and health. Additionally, the high prevalence of malnutrition in this study population and the data on health and intervention costs which will be collected in this study will allow for a cost-effectiveness analysis to determine if livestock feeding interventions and nutritional counselling are cost-effective in reducing the risk of malnutrition among children and women in pastoral communities during the critical dry periods.
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    Booklet
    Increasing sustainable livestock productivity for healthier diets in arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya
    Investment case
    2024
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    In Kenya, the livestock sector accounts for an estimated 4.4 percent of the country's GDP but it employs about 50 percent of the agriculture labour force, alongside other jobs created along value chains. While livestock production in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) has high potential for improving the livelihoods of pastoral households, its contribution towards national development is largely underestimated and receives less attention. Pastoralist food systems suffer from diminished natural resources and extreme weather conditions resulting in spikes of food insecurity and acute malnutrition. This investment case portrays the multiple social, economic and health benefits derived from sustainably increasing the productivity of milking animals among pastoralist communities, especially with the engagement of women as agents of change and caregivers. It provides entry points to remove barriers for upscaling this type of investment, taking into account the needs for climate change adaptation and mitigation in pastoralist settings.
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Livestock for health in Kenya
    Contributing to the prevention of acute malnutrition among children in pastoral households through nutrition-sensitive livestock programming in Marsabit County
    2023
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    The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund, Washington State University and other stakeholders undertook a research-oriented project referred to as ‘Livestock for Health’ (L4H), implemented between August 2018 and September 2022 in Marsabit County, an arid land located in northern Kenya. The objective of the project was to determine the effect of the provision of livestock feed with or without nutritional counselling on reducing the risk of seasonal spikes in acute malnutrition among children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating women in dry seasons in Laisamis Subcounty in Marsabit County. This good practice factsheet provides an overview of the project, including its methodological approach, implementation stages, impact and key learning.

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