Child growth monitoring

Child growth monitoring check-ups which began as visits that involved simply measuring and weighing children, but evolved into mother-health worker touch points where health workers dispensed advice regarding maternal and child health

Literature Review

The World Bank’s Standing Tall report notes that the CRED program helped to support child growth.¹

Quantitative Analysis

Not applicable - no proxy variable for analysis.

Qualitative Analysis

CRED, child growth monitoring with an important maternal counseling component, was noted repeatedly as a key component of PAN and driver of stunting decline. Interviewees noted that PAN improved CRED practices by increasing the number of child attendances and changing the emphasis of these visits from simply measuring and weighing children to counseling mothers. CRED was also mentioned in the context of Juntos.

“The Articulated Nutrition Program focused on vaccine implementation, but also on mother counselling. From 6 controls per year, we changed to one per month… moreover, during the first month of life we had to conduct 3 to 4 controls. (…) and from an approach focused on weight and height measurement, we changed to an approach focused on mother counselling toward promotion of the key practices.” - Technical Officer, Ministry of Economy and Finances.

Conclusion

Given the prioritization and centrality of CRED within both PAN and Juntos, it is plausible that this intervention was important for driving stunting reduction, with the maternal counseling component of CRED visits being more important than the measurement and weighing of children. However, more consistent and reliable data must be recorded to quantitatively analyze the impact of CRED.

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