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Citation: Antoine, M.; Zoungrana, S.;
Somé, J.W.; Lanou, H.B.; Kouanda, S.;
Mouquet-Rivier, C. Women’s
Knowledge of Good Nutrition and
Feeding Practices Is Correlated with
Their Level of Exposure to
Awareness-Raising Activities in
Ouagadougou. Proceedings 2023,91,
93. https://doi.org/10.3390/
proceedings2023091093
Academic Editors: Sladjana Sobajic
and Philip Calder
Published: 29 November 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
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4.0/).
proceedings
Abstract
Women’s Knowledge of Good Nutrition and Feeding Practices Is
Correlated with Their Level of Exposure to Awareness-Raising
Activities in Ouagadougou †
Mélanie Antoine 1, *, Stéphanie Zoungrana 1, Jérôme W. Somé2, Hermann B. Lanou 2, Séni Kouanda 2
and Claire Mouquet-Rivier 1
1UMR QualiSud, University of Montpellier, Avignon University, CIRAD, Institut Agro, IRD, University of
La Réunion, Montpellier 34394, France; stephanie.zoungrana@ird.fr (S.Z.); claire.mouquet@ird.fr (C.M.-R.)
2Département Biomédical et SantéPublique, IRSS (Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé),
Ouagadougou 03 BP 7192, Burkina Faso; joserweb@yahoo.fr (J.W.S.); hlanou@yahoo.ca (H.B.L.);
senikouanda@gmail.com (S.K.)
*Correspondence: melanie.antoine@supagro.fr
†Presented at the 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023, Belgrade, Serbia, 14–17 November 2023.
Abstract:
Malnutrition still affects the population in low-income countries. In Burkina Faso, the
estimated prevalence of anemia is high among preschool-aged children and women of childbearing
age (83.4% and 53%, respectively in 2014). As part of the MERIEM fortification project, a survey was
carried out in 2022 in Ouagadougou to describe dietary practices and women’s knowledge. The
aim of this work is to assess the association between exposure to nutrition sensitization campaigns
and women’s knowledge of nutrition. A cross-sectional survey conducted in Ouagadougou in
March 2022 involved 794 randomly selected women. Socio-economic data were collected, and
knowledge scores on breastfeeding (BF; max 9), complementary feeding practices (IYCF; max 8) and
nutritional status (NS; max 7) of young children, the feeding practices of pregnant
(PW; max 4)
and
breastfeeding women (BW; max 4), and fortified products (FP; max 18) and vitamins and minerals
(VM; max 13)
were calculated. Exposure to nutrition sensitizations was categorized as low, moderate,
or high. Linear regression models (performed with R software version 4.3.0) were used to analyze
the association between knowledge scores and household wealth quintiles, as well as the association
between knowledge scores and sensitization scores from the MERIEM project, adjusted for wealth
quintiles. Mean scores measured in the sample are 4.7, 2.9, 2.6, 1.4, 1.8, 2.7, and 3.1 for BF, IYCF,
NS, PW, BW, FP, and VM, respectively. Knowledge scores increased significantly (p< 0.001) with
socio-economic status, except for NS, PW, and BW scores. In total, 78.0% of women had a low level
of awareness and only 6.3% had a high level. Exposure to nutrition awareness campaigns increases
all women’s knowledge, but not for breastfeeding. This is probably due to the wide promotion of
breastfeeding practices among the population, particularly in health centers. The MERIEM-specific
project’s awareness-raising activities are overall not associated with knowledge scores. However,
there was a significant association with IYCD and VM scores (p< 0.05). Knowledge of diet and
nutrition is overall low in Burkina Faso. Raising awareness seems to have a positive effect on
knowledge levels and can be a lever in the fight against malnutrition. Further research is needed to
determine whether improved knowledge scores translate into improved practices.
Keywords: nutritional knowledge; sensitization; women of childbearing age; sub-Saharan Africa
Author Contributions:
Conceptualization, S.Z., J.W.S., H.B.L., S.K. and C.M.-R.; Methodology, S.Z.,
J.W.S., H.B.L. and C.M.-R.; Investigation, S.Z., J.W.S. and H.B.L.; Formal Analysis, M.A.; Data
Curation, S.Z. and M.A.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, M.A.; Writing—Review & Editing,
C.M.-R. and M.A.; Supervision, C.M.-R.; All authors have read and agreed to the published version
of the manuscript.
Proceedings 2023,91, 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091093 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/proceedings
Proceedings 2023,91, 93 2 of 2
Funding:
This research was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (ID OPP1181284) and
the Agence Française de Développement (AFD–CZZ216701D). The funders had no role in study
design, data collection and analysis or decision to publish.
Institutional Review Board Statement:
The study was conducted according to the guidelines of
the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the national Ethics Committee of Burkina Faso,
(CERS/2021.03.067).
Informed Consent Statement:
Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in
the study.
Data Availability Statement: Data cannot be shared due to privacy.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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