Interventions on Food Security and Water Uses for Improving Nutritional Status of Pregnant Women and Children Younger Than Five Years in Low-Middle Income Countries: A Systematic Review

Cristina Urgell-Lahuerta, Elena Carrillo-Álvarez and Blanca Salinas-Roca
Additional contact information
Cristina Urgell-Lahuerta: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Montserrat Roig 2, 25198 Lleida, Spain
Elena Carrillo-Álvarez: Global Research on Wellbeing (GRoW) Research Group, Blanquerna School of Health Science, Ramon Llull University, Padilla 326-332, 08025 Barcelona, Spain
Blanca Salinas-Roca: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Montserrat Roig 2, 25198 Lleida, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Malnutrition is a global health issue concerning children and pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim of this review was to assess the health-impact outcomes of interventions addressing food security, water quality and hygiene in order to address the improvement of the nutritional status in children below five years and pregnant women in LMICs. Using PRISMA procedures, a systematic review was conducted by searching in biomedical databases clinical trials and interventions for children and pregnant women. Full articles were screened (n f = 252) and critically appraised. The review included 27 randomized and non-randomized trials and interventions. Based on the analysis, three agents concerning nutritional status were identified. First, exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding were fundamental elements in preventing malnutrition. Second, provision of sanitation facilities and the promotion of hygienic practices were also essential to prevent infections spread and the consequent deterioration of nutritional status. Finally, seasonality was also seen to be a relevant factor to consider while planning and implementing interventions in the populations under study. In spite of the efforts conducted over last decades, the improvement in food insecurity rates has remained insufficient. Therefore, the development of global health programs is fundamental to guide future actions.

Keywords: malnutrition; food insecurity; pregnancy; children; WASH (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4799/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4799/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4799-:d:547953

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().