Increasing Household Diet Diversity and Food Security in Rural Rwanda Using Small-Scale Nutrition-Sensitive...

Area of Science:

• Agricultural interventions
• Community-based participatory research
• Nutrition education

Background:

• Food insecurity and malnutrition are prevalent in rural Rwanda.
• Residents often consume low-diversity diets from subsistence farming.
• The efficacy of kitchen garden interventions, especially with community engagement and women's empowerment, is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a kitchen garden and nutrition education intervention using a community-engaged model.
• To examine the intervention's impact on household diet diversity and food security in Rwanda.

Main Methods:

• A 16-week mixed-methods community-level intervention was implemented in Cyanika, Rwanda.
• Stratified purposeful sampling selected women participants from 42 households.
• Household Diet Diversity Scores (HDDS) and hunger scores were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and one-year follow-up.

Main Results:

• Household Diet Diversity Scores (HDDS) significantly increased post-intervention, from 2.59 food groups/day to 4.85 at four months and 5.55 at one year.
• No significant changes were observed in household hunger scores.
• The intervention demonstrated a positive impact on diet diversity.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative, community-engaged, nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions can enhance household diet diversity.
• Further research is needed to assess sustained changes and impact on nutritional adequacy.
• Empowering women through such interventions shows promise for improving dietary diversity.