Intra-household use and acceptability of Ready-to-Use-Supplementary-Foods distributed in Niger between July and December 2010

Few studies have looked at consumption of Ready-to-Use-Supplementary-Foods (RUSFs) during a nutritional emergency. Here, we describe the use and acceptability of RUSF within households in four districts of the region of Maradi, Niger during large scale preventive distributions with RUSF in 2010 targeted at children 6–35 months of age. Our study comprised both quantitative and qualitative components to collect detailed information and to allow in-depth interviews. We performed a cross-sectional survey in 16 villages between two monthly distributions of RUSF (October–November 2010). All households with at least one child who received RUSF were included and a total of 1842 caregivers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Focus groups and individual interviews of 128 caregivers were conducted in eight of the selected villages. On average, 24.7% of households reported any sharing of RUSF within the household. Sharing practices outside the household remained rare. Most of the sharing reported occurred among children under 5 years of age living in the household. On average, 91% of caregivers in all districts rated the child’s appreciation of the products as good or very good. Program planning may need to explicitly accounting for the sharing of products among children under 5 within household.

► Twenty-five percentage of investigated households in 4 districts of Niger reported RUSF sharing.
► Most RUSF sharing occurred among children under 5 years of age in the household.
► RUSF was positively accepted by of the children.
► Most caregivers reported increase in appetite of children and in breastfeeding.
► Sharing among underfives should be considered in designing distribution programs.