Taddese Zerfu

Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being at all ages is a critical element for the success of the Sustainable Development Goals. The ‘first 1000 days’ of life (pregnancy to 2 years), particularly the transition period from exclusive breastfeeding to two years, is a critical window of opportunity for optimal growth and development, as children are most vulnerable to malnutrition during this transition. Furthermore, the period of infancy and early childhood is the time when malnutrition commonly starts, contributing to high rates malnutrition worldwide. 

Being part of Data-Driven Innovation programme at the University of Edinburgh (UoE), this TRAIN@Ed fellowship aims to conduct a multi-level analysis using multi-country and multi-disciplinary secondary data, complemented with additional qualitative data in a mixed methods approach. The study covers the three major eastern African countries (Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya). The study also aims to give a better picture of the pathways, magnitude and significance of causal connections (linkages) between determinants of intake of ASF among young children aged 6 to 23 months in the urban context of Eastern Africa, and the drivers of mothers’ decisions on feeding ASF to young children.  

A multi-disciplinary approach and use existing multi-national secondary data and multi-level analytic process is applied, complemented by primary data collected from the field. The study is implemented in three phases: (i) model building, (ii) primary data collection from the field, and (iii) Evidence synthesis and dissemination.   

Research activities will generate evidences on policy related to child feeding in genral, consumption of animal source foods, in particular. A smooth working relationship between the University of Edinburgh and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and knowledge sharing, related to food, nutrition and ASF consumption in East Aftica, are also part of the anticipated outcomes of the study.  

This TRAIN@Ed project has received funding from the DDI programme, ILRI and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 801215. 

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From policy to action in the fights against malnutrition: COP26 Article. 

For more information visit Edinburgh Research Explorer Profile.