G H Pelto

Biographic Data

ID12326
NAMEG H Pelto
GIVEN NAMESG H
FAMILY NAMEPelto
SIGNATUREPELTO G H
AFFILIATIONSCornell University
ORCID0000-0001-9271-8041
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS36
TOTAL CITATIONS27
AUTHOR COUNT36
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1974
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2020
H-INDEX3

  • Maternal caregiving capabilities are associated with child linear growth in rural Zimbabwe

    Open AccessJoice Tome, Mduduzi NN Mbuya et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2020

    Between birth and 2 years, children's well-being depends on the quality of care they receive from caregivers, primarily their mothers. We developed a quantitative survey instrument to assess seven psychosocial characteristics of women that determine their caregiving ability ('maternal capabilities': physical health, mental health, decision-making autonomy, social support, mothering self-efficacy, workload and time stress, and gender norm attitude…

  • Mixed methods evaluation explains bypassing of vouchers in micronutrient powder trial in Mozambique

    Open AccessAlison Tumilowicz, Marieke Vossenaar et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2019

    Micronutrient powders (MNP) are recommended by the World Health Organization as an effective intervention to address anaemia in children. A formative process evaluation was conducted to assess the viability of a model using free vouchers in two districts of Mozambique to deliver MNP and motivate adherence to recommendations regarding its use. The evaluation consisted of (a) an examination of programme outcomes using a cross-sectional survey among…

  • Ethiopian mothers' experiences with micronutrient powders

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Alison Tumilowicz et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2019

    As part of a formative evaluation of a micronutrient powder (MNP) trial in Ethiopia that was organized according to a programme impact pathway model, we conducted in-depth focused ethnographic interviews with caregivers of children between 6 and 23 months who had accepted to try "Desta," a locally branded MNP. After stratification into two subgroups by child age, respondents were randomly selected from lists of caregivers who had received MNP fro…

  • Bottlenecks and predictors of coverage and adherence outcomes for a micronutrient powder program in Ethiopia

    Open AccessAlison Tumilowicz, Jean‐pierre Habicht et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2019

    A theory-driven evaluation was conducted to assess performance of a trial to deliver micronutrient powder (MNP) through the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. We adapted an approach to coverage assessment, originally developed to identify bottlenecks in health service delivery, to examine sequential program outcomes and their correlates using cross-sectional survey data of caregivers of children 6-23 months (N = 1915). Separate multivariable Poisson r…

  • Is there a “complementary feeding cultural core” in rural Kenya? Results from ethnographic research in five counties

    Open AccessFaith Thuita, Faith M Thuita et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2018

    This investigation used data from focused ethnographic studies in five rural counties in Kenya to determine whether the concept of "special foods for infants and young children" exists in the different ethnic groups in these areas as an identifiable component of cultural beliefs and knowledge, as well as in practice, and whether they can be characterized as a "complementary feeding cultural core." The concept of "cultural core foods" refers to th…

  • Using a cultural-ecological framework to explore dietary beliefs and practices during pregnancy and lactation among women in Adivasi communities in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, India

    Hope C Craig, R Jeyanthi et al.ARTICLEEcology of Food and Nutrition2018

    This article explores maternal dietary beliefs and practices gathered through interviews with mothers of infants and young children in Adivasi communities in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, India. Guided by focused ethnographic study methods, interviews were conducted with 33 key informants. We used a cultural-ecological framework to analyze and interpret the texts that were elicited from women about dietary beliefs and eating patterns during pre…

  • Patterns of cultural consensus and intracultural diversity in Ghanaian complementary feeding practices

    Open AccessNikhila Kalra, G H Pelto et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2017

    Designing effective interventions to improve infant and young child (IYC) feeding requires knowledge about determinants of current practices, including cultural factors. Current approaches to obtaining and using research on culture tend to assume cultural homogeneity within a population. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of cultural consensus (homogeneity) in communities where interventions to improve IYC feeding practices are n…

  • Who knows what

    Open AccessElizabeth L Fox, G H Pelto et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2017

    Worldwide, mothers with young children receive many messages about infant feeding. Some messages are generated by health providers and others by the households, communities, and social contexts in which women live. We aimed to determine the scope of infant feeding messages in urban Haiti and to examine intracultural differences in salience of these messages and their alignment with international guidelines. We applied the method of free listing w…

  • Using cognitive mapping to understand Senegalese infant and young child feeding decisions

    Open AccessStephanie Zobrist, Nikhila Kalra et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2017

    Caregivers make decisions about how to feed their infants and young children based on complex interactions of knowledge, beliefs, and values, as well as assessments of situational determinants, including economic and social constraints and opportunities. Because of the relationship of these factors to the adoption of new feeding behaviours, the development of nutrition interventions for this age group must be grounded in knowledge about the targe…

  • Effect of childhood nutrition counselling on intelligence in adolescence

    Open AccessTiago Neuenfeld Munhoz, Iná S Santos et al.ARTICLEPublic Health Nutrition2017

    Objective The present study aimed to assess the effects of an early childhood nutrition counselling intervention on intelligence (as measured by the intelligence quotient (IQ)) at age 15–16 years. Design A single-blind, cluster-randomised trial. Setting In 1998, in Southern Brazil, mothers of children aged 18 months or younger were enrolled in a nutrition counselling intervention ( n 424). Counselling included encouragement and promotion of exclu…

  • Adherence partners are an acceptable behaviour change strategy to support calcium and iron‐folic acid supplementation among pregnant women in Ethiopia and Kenya

    Open AccessStephanie L Martin, Moshood Omotayo et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2016

    Antenatal calcium and iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation can reduce maternal mortality and morbidity. Yet, even when pregnant women have a stable supply of supplements, forgetting is often a barrier to adherence. We assessed the acceptability of adherence partners to support calcium and IFA supplementation among pregnant women in Kenya and Ethiopia. Adherence partners are a behaviour change strategy to improve adherence, where pregnant women a…

  • Perspectives and reflections on the practice of behaviour change communication for infant and young child feeding

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Stephanie L Martin et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2015

    Behaviour change communication (BCC) is a critical component of infant and young child feeding (IYCF) interventions. In this study we asked BCC practitioners working in low- and middle-income countries to participate in an examination of BCC practice. We focus here on results of their personal reflections related to larger issues of practice. We used a combination of iterative triangulation and snowball sampling procedures to obtain a sample of 2…

  • Using implementation research for evidence‐based programme development

    Open AccessAlison Tumilowicz, Bonnie McClafferty et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2015

    The few available studies of programme effectiveness in nutrition find that programmes are less effective than would be predicted from the efficacy trials that are the basis for evidence-based programming. Some of these are due to gaps in utilisation within households. To a greater extent, these gaps can be attributed to problems in programme design and implementation. 'Implementation research in nutrition' is an emerging area of study aimed at a…

  • The scope and practice of behaviour change communication to improve infant and young child feeding in low‐ and middle‐income countries

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Stephanie L Martin et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2015

    We describe features of the landscape of behaviour change communication (BCC) practice devoted to infant and young child feeding (IYCF) in low- and middle-income countries by practitioners in international development organizations. We used an iterative, snowball sampling procedure to identify participants, and the self-administered questionnaire contained pre-coded questions and open-ended questions, relying primarily on content analysis to deri…

  • Identifying interventions to help rural Kenyan mothers cope with food insecurity

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Margaret Armar‐KlemesuARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2015

    An ethnographic study was conducted in two areas in southern and western Kenya to identify potential interventions to improve the quality, availability and affordability of foods consumed by infants and young children. A cultural-ecological model of determinants of nutrition identified the sectors of information for data collection related to infant and young child (IYC) diet and feeding-related behaviours, and the focused ethnographic study manu…

  • Constraints and opportunities for implementing nutrition‐specific, agricultural and market‐based approaches to improve nutrient intake adequacy among infants and young children in two regions of rural…

    Open AccessChristine Hotz, G H Pelto et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2015

    Several types of interventions can be used to improve nutrient intake adequacy in infant and young child (IYC) diets, including fortified foods, home fortification, nutrition education and behaviour change communication (BCC) in addition to agricultural and market-based strategies. However, the appropriate selection of interventions depends on the social, cultural, physical and economic context of the population. Derived from two rural Kenyan pop…

  • Attitudes and practices towards micronutrient supplementation among pregnant women in rural Tibet

    Open AccessTimothy De Ver Dye, G H Pelto et al.ARTICLEGlobal Public Health2014

    The objective of this study was to identify trends and change in micronutrient supplementation (MNS) knowledge across pregnancy and post-partum and to assess the impact of MNS knowledge (MNS-k) on practice in pregnancy in rural Tibet, an area with endemic micronutrient deficiency. A prospective cohort with repeated measures at early, late and after pregnancy in a rural area in the Tibetan Autonomous Region included women receiving care by communi…

  • What Are We Assessing When We Measure Food Security? A Compendium and Review of Current Metrics

    Open AccessAndrew D Jones, Francis Ngure et al.ARTICLEAdvances in Nutrition2013

  • The focused ethnographic study ‘assessing the behavioral and local market environment for improving the diets of infants and young children 6 to 23 months old’ and its use in three countries

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Margaret Armar‐Klemesu et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2012

    The concept of a focused ethnographic study (FES) emerged as a new methodology to answer specific sets of questions that are required by agencies, policymakers, programme planners or by project implementation teams in order to make decisions about future actions with respect to social, public health or nutrition interventions, and for public-private partnership activities. This paper describes the FES on complementary feeding that was commissione…

  • Balancing nurturance, cost and time

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Margaret Armar‐KlemesuARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2011

    This paper presents a picture of the general patterns of complementary feeding behaviours in urban Ghana. A focused ethnographic study protocol for assessing complementary feeding developed for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition was used to collect data from caregivers of children 6-24 months of age. We examined the multiple factors that influence the selection of foods for infants and young children in this urban setting, and found that …

  • Discouraging premastication may do more harm than good

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Jean‐pierre Habicht et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2010

  • Premastication

    Open AccessG H Pelto, Yuanyuan Zhang et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2009Cited by: 9References: 2

    Premastication of foods for infants was a crucial behavioural adaptation to neoteny that ensured nutritional adequacy during the period of complementary feeding throughout the course of human evolution until recent times.While the paps and gruels of agricultural systems provided an alternative and modern food technology appears to make it unnecessary, we argue that, in addition to its role in nutrition, premastication also played a crucial role i…

  • Newborn care practices in Pemba Island (Tanzania) and their implications for newborn health and survival

    Open AccessLucy Thairu, G H Pelto et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2008

    Newborn mortality accounts for about one-third of deaths in children under five. Neglecting this problem may undermine the fourth Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015. This study was conducted in Tanzania, where an estimated 32/1000 infants die within the first 28 days. Our objective was to describe newborn care practices and their potential impact on newborn health. We interviewed two purposive samples of…

  • Using programme theory to assess the feasibility of delivering micronutrient Sprinkles through a food‐assisted maternal and child health and nutrition programme in rural Haiti

    Open AccessCornelia U Loechl, Pratiksha Menon et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2008

    This paper uses programme theory to assess, in the context of an effectiveness evaluation, the feasibility and acceptability of distributing micronutrient Sprinkles through a food-assisted maternal and child health and nutrition programme in rural Haiti. We laid out the steps related to programme delivery and household utilization of Sprinkles and used qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data on these steps. Methods included structured…

  • From Butter Tea to Pepsi®

    Ty Dickerson, Diana Fernández et al.ARTICLEEcology of Food and Nutrition2008

    Modernization in developing regions affects local diets and nutrition. Using qualitative rapid appraisal methods, we examined the effect of dietary delocalization on food preferences and procurement sources and dietary diversity in rural Tibet. The diets of Tibetans are being both positively and negatively influenced as the region modernizes. For example, greenhouses and chicken rearing represent local adaptations which could improve micronutrien…