Sustaining behavioural change to enhance micronutrient status through community- and women-based interventions in north-east Thailand: Vitamin A

Abstract

This project was designed as a follow-up of the Social Marketing of Vitamin A-Rich Food (SM/VAF) Project in north-east Thailand. It began in 1996 to determine whether the positive changes indicated at the end of the prior project were sustained in the intervention district and to develop a process to foster the changes achieved from the earlier effort. After one year of implementation, the results showed cumulative improvement in knowledge, attitudes, and practice with respect to intake of vitamin A and fat. A sustained improvement in the consumption of vitamin A-rich foods and fat towards fulfilment of the recommended dietary allowance was clearly demonstrated among pre-school children. During the current project, serum retinol levels among school-girls (10-13 years of age) improved from 22.75 ± 6.96 to 33.69 ± 8.25 μg/dl in the intervention group (p < .001), while no significant change was observed in the control group. The difference between intervention and control areas in the change in serum retinol before and after project implementation was highly significant (10.94 ± 9.09 and 3.24 ± 9.14, p < .0001).