Intervening infant and young child feeding among Indian tribes - a scoping review

In India, 40.2%, 23.1%, and 39.4% children below five years amongst the 104 million Scheduled Tribes (STs) are stunted, wasted, and underweight, respectively. Although optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices can substantially improve nutrition in early life, they are highly influenced by cultural beliefs, social exclusion, and sociodemography, notably in STs, necessitating culturally and contextually tailored interventions. This scoping review aimed to map the existing interventions designed to enhance IYCF among Indian STs.

Search was conducted on PubMed (NCBI), Embase (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivate), and CINAHL (EBSCO) using search strings built and modified using keywords such as 'India', 'tribe', and 'infant and young child feeding'. Google Scholar search and citation search were also conducted. The final search was conducted on 27 July 2024. Two-stage screening was conducted on Rayyan software, a screening tool.

Out of 1387 results retrieved, 26 articles were included in this review. Citation search and grey literature provided 22 interventions. Overall, interventions varied from traditional face-to-face counselling to the use of audiovisual aids, such as videos and short films. They were delivered at various levels, including individual, interpersonal, organizational, and community. Mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and community members were targeted with holistic interventions that delivered key messages not only on IYCF in silos, but also on education, rights, marriage, reproductive health, maternal health, water, hygiene, sanitation, and agriculture. Interventions often focused on community participation, responsive interventions, and intersectoral convergence.

This review revealed that interventions aimed at improving IYCF among Indian STs predominantly employed a holistic approach, fostered community participation, leveraged existing local platforms and utilized linguistically tailored audiovisual aids. However, a few gaps persisted in active family involvement, motivation and incentivization of community members to serve as facilitators, and regular attendance of the target population during implementation. This highlights the need to focus on sustaining these interventions and scaling them.