Objectives: To review the impact of agriculture interventions on nutritional status in participating households, and to analyse the characteristics of interventions that improved nutrition outcomes. Design: We identified and reviewed reports describing 30 agriculture interventions that measured impact on nutritional status. The interventions reviewed included home gardening, livestock, mixed garden and livestock, cash cropping, and irrigation. We examined the reports for the scientific quality of the research design and treatment of the data. We also assessed whether the projects invested in five types of 'capital' (physical, natural, financial, human and social) as defined in the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, a conceptual map of major factors that affect people's livelihoods. Results: Most agriculture interventions increased food production, but did not necessarily improve nutrition or health within participating households. Nutrition was improved in 11 of 13 home gardening interventions, and in 11 of 17 other types of intervention. Of the 19 interventions that had a positive effect on nutrition, 14 of them invested in four or five types of capital in addition to the agriculture intervention. Of the nine interventions that had a negative or no effect on nutrition, only one invested in four or five types of capital. Conclusions: Those agriculture interventions that invested broadly in different types of capital were more likely to improve nutrition outcomes. Those projects which invested in human capital (especially nutrition education and consideration of gender issues), and other types of capital, had a greater likelihood of effecting positive nutritional change, but such investment is neither sufficient nor always necessary to effect change.

Repeated 24-h recalls (9-14/subject) were conducted on 52 periurban Guatemalan pregnant women aged 25 +/- 5 y (means +/- SD). Intakes of energy, protein, calcium, zinc, copper, manganese, nonstarch polysaccharide (NSP), phytate, and millimolar ratios of phytate to zinc and (calcium x phytate) to zinc were calculated from food-composition values on the basis of chemical analysis and the literature. Mean (+/- SD) daily intakes were as follows: energy 8694 +/- 1674 kJ, protein 63.0 +/- 13.3 g, calcium 727 +/- 163, zinc 11.3 +/- 2.7, copper 1.3 +/- 0.3, manganese 2.8 +/- 0.6, phytate 2254 +/- 773 mg/d, NSP 26.6 +/- 6.9 g, phytate/zinc 18.8 +/- 4.2, (calcium x phytate)/zinc 706 +/- 21 mmol/MJ. Ninety-four percent had zinc intakes below the recommendations (15 mg) of WHO and the US recommended dietary allowances, assuming 20% absorption. Tortillas were a major source of zinc (46%), copper (20%), manganese (23%), calcium (39%), phytate (68%), and NSP (50%); 19% zinc from flesh foods. Thirty-eight percent had phytate-zinc ratios > 20; 94% had millimolar ratios of (calcium x phytate) to zinc per MJ > or = 22. The high prevalence of millimolar ratios of phytate to zinc and (calcium x phytate) to zinc per MJ above 20 and 22, respectively, may compromise zinc nutriture.

In many developing countries, gender inequality contributes to the continued problem of unwanted pregnancies and unmet contraception needs. The majority of family planning programmes in Asia target only women; however, women's lack of decisionmaking power, even with regard to their own health, hinders their ability to practise family planning. This article describes successes and lessons learned in India and Vietnam from a HealthBridge programme which facilitated male involvement in reproductive health, particularly in family planning and in the use of male-centred contraception. The experience shows that, given the right role models and enabling environments, men are willing to be more fully and positively engaged in reproductive health matters.Dans de nombreux pays en de´veloppement, l'ine´galite´de genre contribue au proble`me qui persiste des grossesses non souhaite´es et des besoins de contraception non satisfaits. La majorite´des programmes de planning familial en Asie ne ciblent que les femmes ; cependant, le manque de pouvoir de prise de de´cisions parmi les femmes, y compris en ce qui concerne leur propre sante´, entrave leur aptitude a`pratiquer le planning familial. Cet article de´crit les enseignements et les succe`s obtenus en Inde et au Vietnam au moyen d'un programme de HealthBridge qui a facilite´la participation des hommes a`la sante´ge´ne´sique, en particulier en matie`re de planning familial et d'utilisation de moyens de contraception base´s sur les hommes. L'expe´rience montre qu'avec les bons mode`les et des environnements positifs, les hommes sont dispose´s à s'engager plus pleinement et positivement sur les questions relatives a`la santeǵ e´ne´sique.En muchos países en desarrollo, la desigualdad de ge´nero fomenta el persistente problema de los embarazos no deseados y de la demanda insatisfecha de anticonceptivos. En Asia, la mayoría de los programas de planeacio´n familiar es dirigida so´lo a las mujeres. Sin embargo, el hecho de que las mujeres no tengan el poder de decisio´n, aun trata´ndose de su propia salud, limita sus posibilidades de ejercer la planeacio´n familiar. Este artículo examina los e´xitos y los aprendizajes resultantes de la aplicacio´n de un programa de HealthBridge que fue implementado en India y en Vietnam, el cual facilito´la participacio´n de los hombres en la salud reproductiva, en particular, en la planeacio´n familiar y en el uso de anticonceptivos para el hombre. Estas experiencias demuestran que, de existir buenos modelos de referencia y ambientes propicios, los hombres manifiestan la voluntad de participar ma´s amplia y positivamente en los asuntos de salud reproductiva.