Helen Harris–Fry
Biographic Data
| ID | 6447621 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helen Harris–Fry |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helen |
| FAMILY NAME | Harris–Fry |
| SIGNATURE | FRY H H |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2367-908X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The interplay between the market food environment and barriers to healthy diets for women in rural Bihar, India
Health, wealth, or equity? Trade-offs from households’ allocative decisions
Households’ allocative decisions have potentially large implications for the health and welfare of their members. We analyze a dataset of rural Bangladeshi households to estimate: (i) a benchmark level of nutritional adequacy that households could afford by selecting different foods and reallocating them among members, and (ii) the associated trade–offs in terms of income and equity preferences. Using a novel set of non–linear health production f…
Intrahousehold power inequalities and cooperation
Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions offer a means to improve the dietary quality of rural, undernourished populations. Their effectiveness could be further increased by understanding how household dynamics enable or inhibit the uptake of NSA behaviours. We used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design to describe the links between household dynamics-specifically intrahousehold power inequalities and intrahousehold cooperation-an…
Contextual factors affecting the implementation of an anemia focused virtual counseling intervention for pregnant women in plains Nepal
It is important to understand gender norms, mobile access, and mobile literacy before implementing an mHealth intervention. The contextual barriers to implementation meant that we were not able to engage family members as much as we had hoped, and we were not able to minimize in-person contact with families. We recommend a flexible approach to mHealth interventions which can be responsive to local context and the situation of participants. Home v…
A network approach for managing ecosystem services and improving food and nutrition security on smallholder farms
Smallholder farmers are some of the poorest and most food insecure people on Earth. Their high nutritional and economic reliance on home‐grown produce makes them particularly vulnerable to environmental stressors such as pollinator loss or climate change which threaten agricultural productivity. Improving smallholder agriculture in a way that is environmentally sustainable and resilient to climate change is a key challenge of the 21st century. Ec…
Differences in maternal and early child nutritional status by offspring sex in lowland Nepal
OBJECTIVE: On average, boys grow faster than girls in early life but appear more susceptible to undernutrition. We investigated sex differences in early child growth, and whether maternal nutritional status and diet differed by offspring sex during and after pregnancy in an undernourished population. METHODS: We analyzed longitudinal data from a cluster-randomized trial from plains Nepal, stratifying results by child or gestational age. Children'…
Understanding the effects of nutrition‐sensitive agriculture interventions with participatory videos and women's group meetings on maternal and child nutrition in rural Odisha, India
A trial of three nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions with participatory videos and women's group meetings in rural Odisha, India, found improvements in maternal and child dietary diversity, limited effects on agricultural production, and no effects on women and children's nutritional status. Our process evaluation explored fidelity, reach, and mechanisms behind interventions' effects. We also examined how context affected implementation…
Reducing gender bias in household consumption data
Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) data are increasingly used to inform nutrition policy around the world, most prominently for food fortification programs. However, they risk providing incorrect and gender-biased estimates of dietary intakes. We use both 7-day HCES and 24-hour dietary recall (24HR) data on all members of 5604 households in rural Bangladesh to disentangle the two main sources of error: 1) mismeasurement of household …
Economic inequality in malnutrition
Addressing anaemia in pregnancy in rural plains Nepal
Maternal anaemia prevalence in low-income countries is unacceptably high. Our research explored the individual-, family- and community-level factors affecting antenatal care uptake, iron folic acid (IFA) intake and consumption of micronutrient-rich diets among pregnant women in the plains of Nepal. We discuss how these findings informed the development of a home visit and community mobilisation intervention to reduce anaemia in pregnancy. We used…
Relative power
We estimate the effects of antenatal food and cash transfers with women's groups on household allocative behaviour and explore whether these effects are explained by intergenerational bargaining among women. Interventions were tested in randomised-controlled trial in rural Nepal, in a food-insecure context where pregnant women are allocated the least adequate diets. We show households enrolled in a cash transfer intervention allocated pregnant wo…
How to design a complex behaviour change intervention
Many public health interventions aim to promote healthful behaviours, with varying degrees of success. With a lack of existing empirical evidence on the optimal number or combination of behaviours to promote to achieve a given health outcome, a key challenge in intervention design lies in deciding what behaviours to prioritise, and how best to promote them. We describe how key behaviours were selected and promoted within a multisectoral nutrition…
The impact of gender equity in agriculture on nutritional status, diets, and household food security
Agricultural and empowerment pathways from land ownership to women's nutrition in India
Land size is an important equity concern for the design of 'nutrition-sensitive' agricultural interventions. We unpack some of the pathways between land and nutrition using a cross-sectional baseline survey data set of 4,480 women from 148 clusters from the 'Upscaling Participatory Action and Videos for Agriculture and Nutrition' trial in Keonjhar district in Odisha, India. Variables used are household ln-land size owned (exposure) and maternal d…
Equity implications of rice fortification
Objective: To model the potential impact and equity impact of fortifying rice on nutritional adequacy of different subpopulations in Nepal. Design: Using 24-h dietary recall data and a household consumption survey, we estimated: rice intakes; probability of adequacy (PA) of eight micronutrients commonly fortified in rice (vitamin A, niacin (B 3 ), pyridoxine (B 6 ), cobalamin (B 12 ), thiamin (B 1 ), folate (B 9 ), Fe and Zn) plus riboflavin (B 2…
Formative qualitative research to develop community-based interventions addressing low birth weight in the plains of Nepal
Objective To explore the factors affecting intra-household food allocation practices to inform the development of interventions to prevent low birth weight in rural plains of Nepal. Design Qualitative methodology using purposive sampling to explore the barriers and facilitating factors to improved maternal nutrition. Setting Rural Dhanusha District, Nepal. Subjects We purposively sampled twenty-five young daughters-in-law from marginalised groups…
Smartphone tool to collect repeated 24 h dietary recall data in Nepal
Objective To outline the development of a smartphone-based tool to collect thrice-repeated 24 h dietary recall data in rural Nepal, and to describe energy intakes, common errors and researchers’ experiences using the tool. Design We designed a novel tool to collect multi-pass 24 h dietary recalls in rural Nepal by combining the use of a CommCare questionnaire on smartphones, a paper form, a QR (quick response)-coded list of foods and a photograph…
Determinants of intra-household food allocation between adults in South Asia – a systematic review
Experiences in running a complex electronic data capture system using mobile phones in a large-scale population trial in southern Nepal
The increasing availability and capabilities of mobile phones make them a feasible means of data collection. Electronic Data Capture (EDC) systems have been used widely for public health monitoring and surveillance activities, but documentation of their use in complicated research studies requiring multiple systems is limited. This paper shares our experiences of designing and implementing a complex multi-component EDC system for a community-base…
Development and validation of a photographic food atlas for portion size assessment in the southern plains of Nepal
Objective To develop and validate a photographic food atlas of common foods for dietary assessment in southern Nepal. Design We created a life-sized photographic atlas of forty locally prepared foods. Between March and June 2014, data collectors weighed portion sizes that respondents consumed during one mealtime and then a different data collector revisited the household the next day to record respondents’ estimations of their previous day’s inta…
Relative power
We estimate the effects of antenatal food and cash transfers with women's groups on household allocative behaviour and explore whether these effects are explained by intergenerational bargaining among women. Interventions were tested in randomised-controlled trial in rural Nepal, in a food-insecure context where pregnant women are allocated the least adequate diets. We show households enrolled in a cash transfer intervention allocated pregnant wo…
Development and validation of a photographic food atlas for portion size assessment in the southern plains of Nepal
Objective To develop and validate a photographic food atlas of common foods for dietary assessment in southern Nepal. Design We created a life-sized photographic atlas of forty locally prepared foods. Between March and June 2014, data collectors weighed portion sizes that respondents consumed during one mealtime and then a different data collector revisited the household the next day to record respondents’ estimations of their previous day’s inta…
Determinants of intra-household food allocation between adults in South Asia – a systematic review
Experiences in running a complex electronic data capture system using mobile phones in a large-scale population trial in southern Nepal
The increasing availability and capabilities of mobile phones make them a feasible means of data collection. Electronic Data Capture (EDC) systems have been used widely for public health monitoring and surveillance activities, but documentation of their use in complicated research studies requiring multiple systems is limited. This paper shares our experiences of designing and implementing a complex multi-component EDC system for a community-base…
Formative qualitative research to develop community-based interventions addressing low birth weight in the plains of Nepal
Objective To explore the factors affecting intra-household food allocation practices to inform the development of interventions to prevent low birth weight in rural plains of Nepal. Design Qualitative methodology using purposive sampling to explore the barriers and facilitating factors to improved maternal nutrition. Setting Rural Dhanusha District, Nepal. Subjects We purposively sampled twenty-five young daughters-in-law from marginalised groups…
Smartphone tool to collect repeated 24 h dietary recall data in Nepal
Objective To outline the development of a smartphone-based tool to collect thrice-repeated 24 h dietary recall data in rural Nepal, and to describe energy intakes, common errors and researchers’ experiences using the tool. Design We designed a novel tool to collect multi-pass 24 h dietary recalls in rural Nepal by combining the use of a CommCare questionnaire on smartphones, a paper form, a QR (quick response)-coded list of foods and a photograph…
How to design a complex behaviour change intervention
Many public health interventions aim to promote healthful behaviours, with varying degrees of success. With a lack of existing empirical evidence on the optimal number or combination of behaviours to promote to achieve a given health outcome, a key challenge in intervention design lies in deciding what behaviours to prioritise, and how best to promote them. We describe how key behaviours were selected and promoted within a multisectoral nutrition…
The impact of gender equity in agriculture on nutritional status, diets, and household food security
Agricultural and empowerment pathways from land ownership to women's nutrition in India
Land size is an important equity concern for the design of 'nutrition-sensitive' agricultural interventions. We unpack some of the pathways between land and nutrition using a cross-sectional baseline survey data set of 4,480 women from 148 clusters from the 'Upscaling Participatory Action and Videos for Agriculture and Nutrition' trial in Keonjhar district in Odisha, India. Variables used are household ln-land size owned (exposure) and maternal d…
Equity implications of rice fortification
Objective: To model the potential impact and equity impact of fortifying rice on nutritional adequacy of different subpopulations in Nepal. Design: Using 24-h dietary recall data and a household consumption survey, we estimated: rice intakes; probability of adequacy (PA) of eight micronutrients commonly fortified in rice (vitamin A, niacin (B 3 ), pyridoxine (B 6 ), cobalamin (B 12 ), thiamin (B 1 ), folate (B 9 ), Fe and Zn) plus riboflavin (B 2…
Economic inequality in malnutrition
Addressing anaemia in pregnancy in rural plains Nepal
Maternal anaemia prevalence in low-income countries is unacceptably high. Our research explored the individual-, family- and community-level factors affecting antenatal care uptake, iron folic acid (IFA) intake and consumption of micronutrient-rich diets among pregnant women in the plains of Nepal. We discuss how these findings informed the development of a home visit and community mobilisation intervention to reduce anaemia in pregnancy. We used…
Relative power
We estimate the effects of antenatal food and cash transfers with women's groups on household allocative behaviour and explore whether these effects are explained by intergenerational bargaining among women. Interventions were tested in randomised-controlled trial in rural Nepal, in a food-insecure context where pregnant women are allocated the least adequate diets. We show households enrolled in a cash transfer intervention allocated pregnant wo…
A network approach for managing ecosystem services and improving food and nutrition security on smallholder farms
Smallholder farmers are some of the poorest and most food insecure people on Earth. Their high nutritional and economic reliance on home‐grown produce makes them particularly vulnerable to environmental stressors such as pollinator loss or climate change which threaten agricultural productivity. Improving smallholder agriculture in a way that is environmentally sustainable and resilient to climate change is a key challenge of the 21st century. Ec…
Differences in maternal and early child nutritional status by offspring sex in lowland Nepal
OBJECTIVE: On average, boys grow faster than girls in early life but appear more susceptible to undernutrition. We investigated sex differences in early child growth, and whether maternal nutritional status and diet differed by offspring sex during and after pregnancy in an undernourished population. METHODS: We analyzed longitudinal data from a cluster-randomized trial from plains Nepal, stratifying results by child or gestational age. Children'…
Understanding the effects of nutrition‐sensitive agriculture interventions with participatory videos and women's group meetings on maternal and child nutrition in rural Odisha, India
A trial of three nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions with participatory videos and women's group meetings in rural Odisha, India, found improvements in maternal and child dietary diversity, limited effects on agricultural production, and no effects on women and children's nutritional status. Our process evaluation explored fidelity, reach, and mechanisms behind interventions' effects. We also examined how context affected implementation…
Reducing gender bias in household consumption data
Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) data are increasingly used to inform nutrition policy around the world, most prominently for food fortification programs. However, they risk providing incorrect and gender-biased estimates of dietary intakes. We use both 7-day HCES and 24-hour dietary recall (24HR) data on all members of 5604 households in rural Bangladesh to disentangle the two main sources of error: 1) mismeasurement of household …
Intrahousehold power inequalities and cooperation
Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions offer a means to improve the dietary quality of rural, undernourished populations. Their effectiveness could be further increased by understanding how household dynamics enable or inhibit the uptake of NSA behaviours. We used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design to describe the links between household dynamics-specifically intrahousehold power inequalities and intrahousehold cooperation-an…
Contextual factors affecting the implementation of an anemia focused virtual counseling intervention for pregnant women in plains Nepal
It is important to understand gender norms, mobile access, and mobile literacy before implementing an mHealth intervention. The contextual barriers to implementation meant that we were not able to engage family members as much as we had hoped, and we were not able to minimize in-person contact with families. We recommend a flexible approach to mHealth interventions which can be responsive to local context and the situation of participants. Home v…
Health, wealth, or equity? Trade-offs from households’ allocative decisions
Households’ allocative decisions have potentially large implications for the health and welfare of their members. We analyze a dataset of rural Bangladeshi households to estimate: (i) a benchmark level of nutritional adequacy that households could afford by selecting different foods and reallocating them among members, and (ii) the associated trade–offs in terms of income and equity preferences. Using a novel set of non–linear health production f…
The interplay between the market food environment and barriers to healthy diets for women in rural Bihar, India
Child Nutrition and Water Access (13 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Environmental health (9 works) · Psychological intervention (9 works) · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Nursing (7 works) · Biology (5 works) · Economic growth (5 works) · Geography (5 works)