Nilupa S Gunaratna
Biographic Data
| ID | 2132902 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nilupa S Gunaratna |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nilupa S |
| FAMILY NAME | Gunaratna |
| SIGNATURE | GUNARATNA N S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Purdue University West Lafayette |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2504-4694 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Informality in food environments
Effects of Engaging Fathers and Bundling Nutrition and Parenting Interventions on Child Nutrition Outcomes and Related Parent Behaviors in Rural Tanzania
Suboptimal diets contribute to child malnutrition globally. The Engaging Fathers for Effective Child Nutrition and Development in Tanzania (EFFECTS) study developed interventions that engaged fathers and delivered bundled nutrition and parenting content and tested their individual and combined effects on child dietary diversity and upstream parental behaviors. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Mara, Tanzania, 80 villages were randomly a…
Effects of engaging fathers and bundling parenting and nutrition interventions on early child development and maternal and paternal parenting in Mara, Tanzania
BACKGROUND: Multicomponent interventions are needed to address the various co-occurring risks that compromise early child nutrition and development. We compared the independent and combined effects of engaging fathers and bundling parenting components into a nutrition intervention on early child development (ECD) and parenting outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a 2×2 factorial cluster-randomized controlled trial across 80 villages in Mara Region, Ta…
Food purchase diversity is associated with market food diversity and diets of children and their mothers but not fathers in rural Tanzania
Rural households in East Africa rely on local markets, but the influence of market food diversity and household food purchase diversity on diets has not been well-characterized. We quantify the associations among market food diversity, household food purchase diversity and dietary diversity of mothers, fathers and children in rural Tanzania. This study uses baseline data from a randomized controlled trial, Engaging Fathers for Effective Child Nut…
Effects of engaging fathers and bundling nutrition and parenting interventions on household gender equality and women's empowerment in rural Tanzania
Advancing gender equality and women's empowerment (GE/WE) may contribute to better child nutrition and development in low-resource settings. However, few empirical studies have generated evidence on GE/WE and examined the potential of engaging men to transform gender norms and power relations in the context of nutrition and parenting programs. We tested the independent and combined effects of engaging couples and bundling nutrition and parenting …
Exploring drivers of food choice among PLHIV and their families in a peri-urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
The use of this expanded framework that included a family perspective on PLHIV food choice illuminated the various households decision-making dynamics that took place in this low resource community. Family members of PLHIV tried to buffer the limitations imposed by the external food environment, especially as the disease progressed. In the context of HIV status disclosure, integrating a family perspective into HIV nutrition interventions and prog…
The role of chicken management practices in children’s exposure to environmental contamination
Clinical trials number: NCT03152227 ; Retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov on May 12, 2012
Exposure to aflatoxins and fumonisins and linear growth of children in rural Ethiopia
Objective: We hypothesise that exposure to aflatoxins and fumonisins, measured in serum, alters protein synthesis, reducing serum protein and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), increasing inflammation and infection, leading to child’s linear growth failure. Design: Children 6–35 months, stratified by baseline stunting, were subsampled from an intervention trial on quality protein maize consumption and evaluated at two time-points. Setting: Blo…
Behavioural insights to support increased consumption of quality protein maize by young children
INTRODUCTION: Biofortified crops have tremendous potential to improve child nutrition. We tested whether complementing the distribution of quality protein maize (QPM) with a package of interventions informed by behavioural insights could support greater consumption of QPM by young children and translate into improved growth. METHODS: We conducted a cluster-randomised trial in Oromia, Ethiopia. Clusters of households with a child between 6 and 35 …
Men's nutrition knowledge is important for women's and children's nutrition in Ethiopia
In an effort to address undernutrition among women and children in rural areas of low-income countries, nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) and behaviour change communication (BCC) projects heavily focus on women as an entry point to effect nutritional outcomes. There is limited evidence on the role of men's contribution in improving household diets. In this Agriculture to Nutrition trial (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03152227), we explore…
Market food diversity mitigates the effect of environment on women’s dietary diversity in the Agriculture to Nutrition (Atonu) study, Ethiopia
Objective In Ethiopia, women’s dietary diversity is low, primarily due to poor food availability and access, both at home and market level. The present study aimed to describe market access using a new definition called market food diversity (MFD) and estimate the impact of MFD, crop and livestock diversity on dietary diversity among women enrolled in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) trial. Design Baseline cross-sectional data collected from …
A meta-analysis of community-based studies on quality protein maize
A meta-analysis of community-based studies on quality protein maize
Effects of engaging fathers and bundling nutrition and parenting interventions on household gender equality and women's empowerment in rural Tanzania
Advancing gender equality and women's empowerment (GE/WE) may contribute to better child nutrition and development in low-resource settings. However, few empirical studies have generated evidence on GE/WE and examined the potential of engaging men to transform gender norms and power relations in the context of nutrition and parenting programs. We tested the independent and combined effects of engaging couples and bundling nutrition and parenting …
A meta-analysis of community-based studies on quality protein maize
Market food diversity mitigates the effect of environment on women’s dietary diversity in the Agriculture to Nutrition (Atonu) study, Ethiopia
Objective In Ethiopia, women’s dietary diversity is low, primarily due to poor food availability and access, both at home and market level. The present study aimed to describe market access using a new definition called market food diversity (MFD) and estimate the impact of MFD, crop and livestock diversity on dietary diversity among women enrolled in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) trial. Design Baseline cross-sectional data collected from …
Behavioural insights to support increased consumption of quality protein maize by young children
INTRODUCTION: Biofortified crops have tremendous potential to improve child nutrition. We tested whether complementing the distribution of quality protein maize (QPM) with a package of interventions informed by behavioural insights could support greater consumption of QPM by young children and translate into improved growth. METHODS: We conducted a cluster-randomised trial in Oromia, Ethiopia. Clusters of households with a child between 6 and 35 …
Men's nutrition knowledge is important for women's and children's nutrition in Ethiopia
In an effort to address undernutrition among women and children in rural areas of low-income countries, nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) and behaviour change communication (BCC) projects heavily focus on women as an entry point to effect nutritional outcomes. There is limited evidence on the role of men's contribution in improving household diets. In this Agriculture to Nutrition trial (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03152227), we explore…
The role of chicken management practices in children’s exposure to environmental contamination
Clinical trials number: NCT03152227 ; Retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov on May 12, 2012
Exposure to aflatoxins and fumonisins and linear growth of children in rural Ethiopia
Objective: We hypothesise that exposure to aflatoxins and fumonisins, measured in serum, alters protein synthesis, reducing serum protein and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), increasing inflammation and infection, leading to child’s linear growth failure. Design: Children 6–35 months, stratified by baseline stunting, were subsampled from an intervention trial on quality protein maize consumption and evaluated at two time-points. Setting: Blo…
Exploring drivers of food choice among PLHIV and their families in a peri-urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
The use of this expanded framework that included a family perspective on PLHIV food choice illuminated the various households decision-making dynamics that took place in this low resource community. Family members of PLHIV tried to buffer the limitations imposed by the external food environment, especially as the disease progressed. In the context of HIV status disclosure, integrating a family perspective into HIV nutrition interventions and prog…
Effects of engaging fathers and bundling nutrition and parenting interventions on household gender equality and women's empowerment in rural Tanzania
Advancing gender equality and women's empowerment (GE/WE) may contribute to better child nutrition and development in low-resource settings. However, few empirical studies have generated evidence on GE/WE and examined the potential of engaging men to transform gender norms and power relations in the context of nutrition and parenting programs. We tested the independent and combined effects of engaging couples and bundling nutrition and parenting …
Effects of engaging fathers and bundling parenting and nutrition interventions on early child development and maternal and paternal parenting in Mara, Tanzania
BACKGROUND: Multicomponent interventions are needed to address the various co-occurring risks that compromise early child nutrition and development. We compared the independent and combined effects of engaging fathers and bundling parenting components into a nutrition intervention on early child development (ECD) and parenting outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a 2×2 factorial cluster-randomized controlled trial across 80 villages in Mara Region, Ta…
Food purchase diversity is associated with market food diversity and diets of children and their mothers but not fathers in rural Tanzania
Rural households in East Africa rely on local markets, but the influence of market food diversity and household food purchase diversity on diets has not been well-characterized. We quantify the associations among market food diversity, household food purchase diversity and dietary diversity of mothers, fathers and children in rural Tanzania. This study uses baseline data from a randomized controlled trial, Engaging Fathers for Effective Child Nut…
Informality in food environments
Effects of Engaging Fathers and Bundling Nutrition and Parenting Interventions on Child Nutrition Outcomes and Related Parent Behaviors in Rural Tanzania
Suboptimal diets contribute to child malnutrition globally. The Engaging Fathers for Effective Child Nutrition and Development in Tanzania (EFFECTS) study developed interventions that engaged fathers and delivered bundled nutrition and parenting content and tested their individual and combined effects on child dietary diversity and upstream parental behaviors. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Mara, Tanzania, 80 villages were randomly a…
Medicine (10 works) · Child Nutrition and Water Access (9 works) · Environmental health (8 works) · Psychological intervention (6 works) · Agriculture (5 works) · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations (5 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (5 works) · Tanzania (5 works) · Biology (4 works) · Dietary diversity (4 works)