Understanding acceptance, compliance, and utilization of Micronutrient Powder (MNP) in northern Nigeria – informing implementation through formative research

ObjectiveDeveloping an at-scale nutrition program that attempts to change nutrition-related behaviors is challenging in northern Nigeria where hundreds of cultural groups and languages co-exist within state borders. As part of the global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, this study sought to describe household acceptance and utilization of MNP, as well as to understand the primary barriers and facilitating factors to its usage among children 6 – 23 months in Kebbi and Adamawa, Nigeria prior to program implementation. MethodsThis study of MNP utilization used multiple, mixed methods in a multi-phase design as part of broader formative research efforts to design an infant and young child feeding (IYCF) program. Over two, four-week phases, data were collected from 144 households participating in a home-feeding trial with MNP. Households were purposively sampled to ensure an equal number of children (n = 48) enrolled into each age stratum (6 – 11 mo; 12 – 17 mo; 18 – 23 mo). In phase 1, we conducted full-d...