In 1999, a questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate public preferences towards badger culling to control bovine tuberculosis in cattle. Three alternative treatments were considered: (1) widespread culling, (2) the current experimental trials, and (3) no culling. One hundred residents from Glastonbury and York were interviewed in person and asked to give preference ratings to each of the three treatments. The single most preferred treatment was no culling, and the least preferred was the widespread cull. Respondents who favoured either the widespread cull or the experimental trials tended to be more knowledgeable about the problem and cited the level of tuberculosis in cattle as the primary factor guiding their preferences. Respondents who favoured the no culling option tended to be less knowledgeable, and cited the conservation and welfare impacts on badger populations as the most important factors. Analysis of the distribution of preference scores suggested that although it was not necessarily the most preferred treatment the experimental trial may be a relatively acceptable alternative.

Nutritional rickets can be caused by either or both calcium and vitamin D deficiencies, and can frequently occur in Africa. In Ethiopia, limited evidence exists regarding the calcium intake of children and their sunlight exposure practices. The purpose of this study was to assess information regarding dietary calcium intake and sunlight exposure practice, which are factors related to nutritional rickets. The study was conducted in Dale Woreda, Southern Ethiopia using a community based cross-sectional survey design with both descriptive and analytic components. A total of 170 children were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. A structured questionnaire and an interactive 24-hour dietary assessment method were used to collect data on sociodemographic and economic information and to assess dietary calcium intake of participant children. The Ethiopian food composition table supplemented by world food data were used to convert dietary intake into nutrient content. The mean (SD) age of the study children was 14.4 (+4.7) months. The male to female ratio was 1.24. The mean (± SD) calcium intake of participant children was 407 ± 235 mg/day; 26.5% had low dietary calcium intake compared with their age specific recommended nutrient intake (RNI) value. Regarding sunlight exposure, 41.1% participant mothers exposed their child to sunlight within 1 (one) month of birth and 56.5% of study children were exposed to sunlight for 20 to 30 minutes per day. In conclusion, the risk of dietary calcium inadequacy was prevalent because of low intakes by some children. Even if only 26.5% of participating children had low dietary calcium intake, the children in the study area have some risk of dietary calcium inadequacy due to the high content of phytate in the prevailing complementary foods such as fruits and maize based complementary food, which can inhibit bioavailability of calcium. The participant children were not at risk of inadequate exposure to sunlight because they had good exposure practices and there was no sunlight avoidance practices among the majority of participant children.

Nutrition education about locally available, nutritionally rich crops, such as pulses, is one of the promising strategies to reduce the burden of malnutrition among women in rural communities of low-income and middle income countries such as Ethiopia. This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of nutrition education on the knowledge, attitude and practice of women of reproductive age using the Health Belief Model. A pre-test post-test controlled intervention study was conducted on 200 randomly selected women from Hawassa Zuria district in two groups: intervention (n=100) and control (n=100). Nutrition education intervention was given using Health Belief Model (HBM) only to the intervention group, every 15 days for consecutive six months whereas the control group got the same information in a summarized form at the end of the study. Women in both groups completed knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) and food frequency questionnaires at baseline and after six months of intervention. Data were analyzed using independent and paired sample t-tests to find out the effect of nutrition education intervention by comparing the pre and post test data between the two groups and within each group. The result showed a significant improvement in the mean knowledge (p<0.001), attitude (p<0.001), and practice scores (p<0.001) in the intervention group compared to control group. There was significant (p<.001) improvement in the scores of HBM constructs: perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and taking health action by the intervention group to the control group. The success of this intervention using nutrition education to improve practices using pulses may be due to there being repeated demonstrations of pulse processing and recipes, to group discussions involving peer learning and experience sharing, and to interest from the mothers regarding health benefits. It is concluded that nutrition education based on HBM can be effective in bringing positive change on the KAP of women of reproductive age towards household utilization of pulse based diets.

Effectively implemented nutrition education can provide participants with the knowledge and skills to make healthy food choices in the context of their lifestyles and economic resources. In Ethiopia, the government equips health extension workers (HEWs) to provide nutrition education to communities by enabling HEWs to transfer knowledge to women's development team leaders (WDTLs) who in turn share the knowledge with the one-to-five network leaders (1-5NWL) and members. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of WDTLs in delivering nutrition education to women as the intervention group (IG). This was compared to having trained HEWs educate women directly (the positive control group, PCG), and having women receive no specific education (negative control group, NCG). A cluster randomized trial design was used. Three kebeles (villages of 5000 people) were purposively selected from which the WDTLs were randomly selected and their respective 1-5NWL and members were participants. Nutrition education to teach pulse sprouting was provided every other week for 6 months to intervention and positive control groups. Focus group discussions and demonstrations were held to reinforce knowledge and skills. Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of the women were evaluated pre and post-intervention. At baseline all three groups had similar low scores in KAP. After the education intervention, knowledge improved in IG compared to PCG (p=0.009), and both were greater than NCG (p=0.001). Attitude in IG improved more in PCG (p=0.008) and both increased compared to NCG (p=0.001). Practices improved, similarly, in IG and PCG (p=0.084) after intervention, and both were better than NCG (p=0.001). From this study, we conclude that nutrition education delivered through WDTLs, as is intended in communities in Ethiopia having HEWs, was more effective than delivery by HEWs alone. Nutrition education on pulse sprouting has the potential to bring positive changes on KAP of rural women who depend on this processing skill to provide nutritious foods for their families.

Adequate nutrient intake, especially of protein and micronutrients, enhances growth of children and decreases susceptibility to disease. Major contributing factors to malnutrition among infants and children are low purchasing power of the family resulting in poor quality foods. A cross-sectional and laboratory-based study was conducted at Titecha Kebele in Ethiopia to assess the consumption pattern of broad bean. The work also assessed use of broad bean for complementary feeding of young children, following FAO/WHO/UNU’s recommendation of adding up to a maximum of 40% legumes to cereal-based complementary food for young children. Study participants were mother-child pairs (n=169), and children were between 6-35 months of age. Most families were in poverty with stunting, wasting, and underweight present in 22.5, 4.7, and 8.3% of study children, respectively. Questionnaires gathered information on dietary intakes, and focus group discussions were used to obtain indepth information on the mother’s attitude and knowledge of child feeding, as well as overall consumption of broad beans. The mean dietary diversity score of children was approximately two out of a possible eight, and no child had consumed meat, fish, or vitamin A-containing fruits or vegetables the day before the study. Sixty percent of mothers did not provide bean-based food for their children, with the most frequently reported reason being lack of knowledge of its nutrient value for young children. To a typical complementary food of barley-maize porridge, 10, 20 and 30% of cereal was replaced by processed broad beans (Vicia faba), which increased in protein content, with no meaningful change in phytate content. Sensory evaluation showed that participant children and mothers preferred the taste of the 10% broad bean porridge; however, all added broad bean porridges had similar acceptability to the barley-maize control. Thus, inclusion of processed broad bean can effectively be done to improve nutrient content and nutrient availability of traditional cereal-based complementary foods in the Titecha kebele region of Ethiopia.