Livestock ownership, animal source foods and child nutritional outcomes in seven rural village clusters in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa currently has the highest prevalence of malnutrition worldwide. In children under the age of 5years, malnutrition can have long-term effects on physical and cognitive development, with implications at the national scale. Theoretically, livestock-based interventions are well placed to overcome constraints faced by micronutrient and/or food-based interventions. However, there is limited empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. Methods: This study utilised agriculture, nutrition and anthropometry data from the Millennium Villages Project to investigate relationships between livestock ownership, animal source foods (ASF) consumption and child nutritional outc..