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Integrated agriculture programs to address malnutrition in northern Malawi

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, November 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (71st percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (60th percentile)

Mentioned by

policy
1 policy source
twitter
1 X user
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

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66 Dimensions

Readers on

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247 Mendeley
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Title
Integrated agriculture programs to address malnutrition in northern Malawi
Published in
BMC Public Health, November 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-3840-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Rachel Bezner Kerr, Emmanuel Chilanga, Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong, Isaac Luginaah, Esther Lupafya

Abstract

In countries where the majority of undernourished people are smallholder farmers, there has been interest in agricultural interventions to improve nutritional outcomes. Addressing gender inequality, however, is a key mechanism by which agriculture can improve nutrition, since women often play a crucial role in farming, food processing and child care, but have limited decision-making and control over agricultural resources. This study examines the approaches by which gender equity in agrarian, resource-poor settings can be improved using a case study in Malawi. A quasi-experimental design with qualitative methods was used to examine the effects of a participatory intervention on gender relations. Thirty married couple households in 19 villages with children under the age of 5 years were interviewed before and then after the intervention. An additional 7 interviews were conducted with key informants, and participant observation was carried out before, during the intervention and afterwards in the communities. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and analysed qualitatively for key themes, concepts and contradictions. Several barriers were identified that undermine the quality of child care practices, many linked to gender constructions and norms. The dominant concepts of masculinity created shame and embarrassment if men deviated from these norms, by cooking or caring for their children. The study provided evidence that participatory education supported new masculinities through public performances that encouraged men to take on these new roles. Invoking men's family responsibilities, encouraging new social norms alongside providing new information about different healthy recipes were all pathways by which men developed new 'emergent' masculinities in which they were more involved in cooking and child care. The transformational approach, intergenerational and intra-gendered events, a focus on agriculture and food security, alongside involving male leaders were some of the reasons that respondents named for changed gender norms. Participatory education that explicitly addresses hegemonic masculinities related to child nutrition, such as women's roles in child care, can begin to change dominant gender norms. Involving male leaders, participatory methods and integrating agriculture and food security concerns with nutrition appear to be key components in the context of agrarian communities.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 247 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 2 <1%
Spain 1 <1%
Unknown 244 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 36 15%
Student > Master 36 15%
Student > Ph. D. Student 25 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 17 7%
Student > Bachelor 15 6%
Other 38 15%
Unknown 80 32%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Social Sciences 48 19%
Nursing and Health Professions 25 10%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 22 9%
Medicine and Dentistry 19 8%
Psychology 8 3%
Other 38 15%
Unknown 87 35%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 October 2019.
All research outputs
#6,328,305
of 22,947,506 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#6,639
of 14,955 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#115,923
of 417,143 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#73
of 186 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,947,506 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 72nd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 14,955 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 55% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 417,143 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 186 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its contemporaries.