BACKGROUND:High prevalence of stunting in children under 5 years poses a major threat to child development in developing countries. It is associated with micronutrient deficiency arising from poor diets fed to children under 5 years. Food fortification is amongst the interventions focused at reducing the incidence of stunting in children under 5 years. METHODS:Using a large-scale household data from Zimbabwe, we investigated the gender-based importance of household adoption of food fortification on the proportion of stunted children in the household. We employed propensity score matching to mitigate self-selection bias associated with household adoption of food fortification. RESULTS:We offer three major findings. Firstly, we find statistically weak evidence that female headed households are more likely to adopt food fortification than their male counterparts. Secondly, food fortification reduces the proportion of stunted children in the household. Finally, in comparison to non-adopters, female headed households that adopt food fortification are more able to reduce the proportion of stunted children in their households than their male counterparts. CONCLUSION:The results highlight the need for policy makers to actively promote food fortification, as such interventions are likely to contribute to the reduction of stunting and to involve men in fortification interventions to improve on their knowledge and appreciation of fortified foods and the associated benefits.

译文

背景:5岁以下儿童的发育迟缓率很高,对发展中国家的儿童发展构成了重大威胁。它与因喂给5岁以下儿童的不良饮食引起的微量营养素缺乏有关。食品强化是旨在减少5岁以下儿童发育迟缓发生率的干预措施之一。
方法:使用来自津巴布韦的大规模家庭数据,我们调查了家庭中发育不良儿童所占比例的基于性别的家庭采用食品强化的重要性。我们采用倾向得分匹配来减轻与家庭采用食品强化措施相关的自我选择偏见。
结果:我们提供了三个主要发现。首先,我们发现统计上较弱的证据表明,以女性为户主的家庭比男性家庭更容易采取食品强化措施。其次,强化食品减少了家庭中发育不良儿童的比例。最后,与非采用者相比,采用食品强化的女户主家庭比男户主更有能力减少发育不良儿童的比例。
结论:结果强调决策者需要积极促进食品强化,因为此类干预措施可能有助于减少发育迟缓,并使男性参与强化干预措施,以提高他们对强化食品的知识和欣赏以及相关益处。

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