Presentation by Emmanuel Muunda and Silvia Alonso at the 16th International Symposium of Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics, Halifax, Canada, 12 August 2022.
Milk safety and child nutrition: Impacts of the MoreMilk project’s training scheme for informal dairy vendors
1. Better lives through livestock
Milk safety and child nutrition: Impacts of
the MoreMilk project’s training scheme for
informal dairy vendors
Emmanuel Muunda and Silvia Alonso
International Livestock Research Institute
22nd International Symposium of Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics (ISVEE 22)
Halifax, Canada, 5–12 August 2022
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The MoreMilk project
• A cluster randomized control trial
• Target population: Informal dairy
vendors (raw milk sellers) and their
customers
• Intervention: training, certification and
marketing scheme for dairy vendors
• Peri-urban areas in Kenya (Nairobi,
Eldoret)
• 4.6M; Donors: Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, UK Aid, CGIAR donors
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Primary outcomes
Food safety outcome:
Microbiological quality:
Total bacterial counts in milk sold
by vendors
Nutrition outcome:
Mean dietary adequacy of protein,
calcium and vitamin B12 (3 key
milk nutrients) in children 12–48
months at baseline
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Why an RCT?
• We wanted unquestionable evidence to engage the politicized policy
and decision-making environment.
• Better approach for causality inference
• We had designed ‘light touch’ intervention that needed testing.
• We had some evidence on effect on food safety, but none on nutrition.
• Donor interest
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Challenges encountered
Level of compliance to procedure:
Trainings not fully attended
Seasonality driving high market turnover = attrition
Participants’ fatigue
Controls motivation
Life goes on! Many things can affect the implementation, the
participants, the intervention, the outcomes…
Management of expectations
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Want to conduct a RCT in an informal food market?
Design
Labour-intensive!
Logistics
Informal markets are sensitive to time and seasons – plan
Attrition
Keep engaging control groups
Expectations – misunderstandings
Consider process evaluation (PE): RCT addresses the
counterfactual; PE ‘audits’ the implementation