Nutritional Intervention at a Girl’s Orphanage in Sri Lanka Decreased Stunting after One Year

Background: Both the civil war in 1998 and the tsunami in 2004 in Sri Lanka resulted in a large number of orphans. Objective: To examine the effect of nutritional intervention on one-year period of stunting and/or emaciated status. Methods: Study setting: Twenty-eight girls aged 5 - 19 years old were in the care of Grace Girls’ Home, an orphanage for girls located in the port town of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, at the time of the survey. Nineteen of them had two available anthropometric measurements recorded over one year of follow-up. Anthropometric measurements were obtained prior to the intervention of nutritional mentoring to the local caregivers, and one year after intervention. Height-for-age, weight-for-age, and BMI-for-age z-scores were calculated using SMART methodology. Nutritional consultancy recommended an additional 15 - 20 grams of high quality protein per day, which was given to the girls. The kitchen team was encouraged to regularly prepare a variety of pulse-based dishes, using local foods and recipes. The local palm oil, rich in saturated fatty acids, was replaced with sunflower oil, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Results: Stunting was decreased from Height to age Z-score (−1.19 ± 0.94) to (−0.90 ± 1.06) (P = 0.016), and BMI Z-score from (−0.80 ± 0.79) to (−0.50 ± 0.74) (P = 0.004). Conclusions: A single nutritional education intervention, culturally adapted and implemented by the local caregivers, can decrease stunting in orphans within one year.