Community Interventions to Improve Iron and Iodine Status in Mother and Child Dyads in Northern Ghana

The participating dyads in intervention communities were invited to consume veo soup/meal (HSM) three times a week and provided weekly supply of iodized salt (450 g) for the household usage as well as being engaged in dry season container gardening. The veo soup/meal is a local Ghanaian soup/meal mainly made of Hibiscus Sabdarifa leaves. It is a soup when prepared a bit watery and consumed with 'tou zaafi' (millet or corn based cooked paste). It is also a meal when prepared thick and eaten by itself. The Hibiscus Sabdariffa leaves meal (HSM) used in the present study was made of 18 kg Hibiscus Sabdariffa leaves, 8 kg groundnut, 1.1 kg dawadawa (fermented African locust beans), 3 kg dried fish plus 0.045 kg iodized salt, cooked with about 23 L (23 kg) water to yield 52.5 kg HSM. In each community, groups of ten women took turns to share the cooking activities, washing of bowls, and making water available for cooking. No treatment provided in our control communities.