Current Investigations

MANI II - Mejorando la Alimentación de los Niños en Intibucá

Improving the Feeding of Children in Intibucá, Honduras.       

A Shoulder to Shoulder / The Mathile Institute Study

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeffrey E. Heck, Executive Director of Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

MANI II is a yearlong nutrition program focused on decreasing micronutrient deficiencies among children in Honduras.  The program includes the distribution of a complementary nutrition supplement and nutritional educational sessions.  The impact of the supplement and program on children’s growth, hemoglobin, vitamin and mineral biomarkers, and overall health is assessed on a regular basis throughout the program.  The program is being integrated into the existing infrastructures of both Shoulder to Shoulder and the overall community.

MANI II is in six municipalities in the department of Intibucá.  The program includes a randomized community trial in one of the six municipalities to test the effectiveness of the complementary nutrition supplement.  The overall program will enroll about 3,000 children aged six months to less than five years old.  To reach this wide catchment area, the program is implemented by 12 on-the-ground staff; two study coordinators each with a team of five health promoters.

Funding organization: The Mathile Institute for the Advancement of Human Nutrition

Time period: July 2010 to December 2011

Surveillance for Viral Respiratory Infections in Rural Honduran Children: Evaluation of Characteristics and Etiologic Spectrum of Influenza Virus and Other Respiratory Viruses: Acute respiratory infections in Honduran Children/ Infecciones Respiratorias Agudas en Niños Hondureños

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth P. Schlaudecker, M.D., Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Abstract: A prospective sentinel clinic surveillance study to determine the viral etiologies of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs) in a rural Honduran population of children less than five years of age who present to local clinics with fever and respiratory symptoms of less than five days duration. We intend to recruit 500 children over a 12 month period. A questionnaire will assess age, sex, medical history, breastfeeding history, signs and symptoms, risk factory, and geographic setting. Clinical data will be recorded and rapid influenza tests will be performed on a subset of patients. Nasopharyngeal samples will be obtained via swab and shipped to the US. We expect to obtain unique data on viral etiologies of ARI in this population, including clinical characteristics, risk factors, and seasonality of each. We will also assess rapid influenza tests and the PrimeStore buffer in this setting.

Funding organization: U.S. National Institutes of Health-Fogarty International Center for the Advanced Study in the Health Sciences

Additional collaborator: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Time period: January 2010 to January 2011

Completed clinic study, awaiting evaluation of results.

Improving the Nutrition and Health outcomes of children under 5 in Intibucá / Mejorando Alimentacion y Nutricion en Intibuca (MANI)

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeffrey E. Heck, Executive Director of Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

Abstract: Assess the impact of an integrated educational and feeding intervention delivered to infant/children 6 to 24 months of age. We will examine the child's growth (weight, length), development (cognitive and gross motor) nutritional dietary behaviors; folate, iron, zinc, and vitamin A status; food insecurity and morbidity(respiratory and diarrheal) outcomes in the communities of Santa Lucia, Magdalena and San Antonio.

Approximately 18 communities will be randomized to a control or intervention group. We will recruit a total of 150 children in each treatment group, with approximately 75 children in the age range of 6 to 18 months and 75 in the 13 to 25 months age range for a total sample size of 300 children.

The children in the control villages will receive both food vouchers for local staples and a nutrition education intervention monthly, for a total of 12 months. Children in the intervention villages will receive a lipid-based nutritional supplement (LNS) called Plumpy'doz®, food vouchers for local staples and a nutrition education intervention monthly for the same time period.

Funding organization: The Mathile Institute for the Advancement of Human Nutrition

Additional collaborator: University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill School of Public Health consulting faculty member and the Associate Dean of the Center for Global Health at UNC-CH

Time period: July 2008 to September 2009 - continuation study for another 6 months -October 2009 to March 2010