Evaluation of Nutrition Education in Africa : Community Research in Uganda, 1971–1972

Linguistic variation is a topic of ongoing interest to the field. Its description and its explanations continue to intrigue scholars from many different backgrounds. By taking a deliberately broad perspective on the matter, covering not only crosslinguistic and diachronic but also intralinguistic and interspeaker variation and examining phenomena ranging from negation over connectives to definite articles in well- and lesser-known languages, the volume furthers our understanding of variation in general. The papers offer new insights into, among other things, the theoretical notion of comparative concepts, the social or mental nature of language structure, the areal factor in lexical typology and the diachronic implications of semantic maps. The collection will thus be of relevance to typologists and historical linguists, as well as to people studying variation within the areas of cognitive and functional linguistics. Abstract: Information from 3 nutrition rehabilitation centers operating in Uganda during 1971-72 to combat proteinenergy malnutrition is used to examine the process occurring between educational input and health outcome of malnourished children. The problems associated with evaluative research in these clinical settings are considered, along with evaluation methods implemented at theclinics. Results are used to assess the usefulness of these methods as well as the effectiveness of teaching. The findings suggest that assessment of changes in attitudes andknowledge, the social environment of the family, food preferences, and other external variables provide clues to the success or failure of nutritional recovery. Interviews with students of teacher training colleges and a model designating the place of nutrition education among all the social factors influencing child nutrition are also presented. An understanding of how nutrition education functions and is received is needed for the development of effective nutrition intervention policy Acknowledgements Contents List of Tables and Figures Introduction 1. Protein-energy malnutrition in Uganda 2. Mwanamugimu and Luteete clinics 3. Evaluative research 4. Three nutrition programmes. First studies: method 5. Three nutrition programmes. First studies: results 6. A closer look at food preferences 7. Teacher training colleges 8. Environment and recovery I 9. Environment and recovery II 10. Conclusions Appendix A. Measuring recovery rate Appendix B. Measuring knowledge and attitudes Notes References Protein-Energy Malnutrition and Intellectual Abilities