Failure of a supplementary feeding programme to improve the health of young children

Each year the world devotes over $300 million to supplementary feeding projects, yet there are few truly empirical studies on the impact of particular schemes. This report presents results of a longitudinal study of a three‐year clinic‐based project in the West Indies. The evaluation showed that mean birth weights of babies of supplemented and unsupplemented mothers were 3.18 ± 0.56 and 3.19 ± 0.52 kg., respectively; the proportion of infants offered breast milk before and after the intervention was similar, but bottle feeding was more prevalent after; intakes of energy and protein were higher in the supplemented group but differences were negligible after one year of age; between 6 months and 2 years of age, the increase in the number of malnourished children was greater in the supplemented than in the unsupplemented group. Serious analysis of the reasons for these disappointing results should lead to changes in donor agencies’ policies for this type of food distribution.