Peanut-based School Meals in Rural Ghana to Improve Attendance and Retention

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are evaluating whether providing peanut paste-based milk-containing ready-to-use school food (PM-RUF) daily can improve school attendance, reduce dropouts, and increase matriculation among children aged 5 to 17 years in Ghana's Mion District. The study compares PM-RUF to a common local flour made of rice and millet used in school meals, aiming to enhance child nutrition and educational outcomes. This cluster-randomized, controlled, investigator-blinded superiority trial addresses challenges in current school feeding programs, such as nutritional quality, food safety, and program sustainability in low- and middle-income countries. The trial randomly assigns schools to receive either the PM-RUF, which contains peanut, palm oil, sugar, fat-free milk powder, and essential micronutrients at 0.5 to 1 recommended dietary allowance, or a standard porridge made from local rice and millet flour. The PM-RUF is locally produced, food safe, has a long shelf life, and supports local economies similar to home-grown school feeding models. The intervention is delivered daily as a school meal, and the study will monitor outcomes over an extended period. Participants will have their attendance tracked daily using fingerprint biometric scanning over 11 to 30 months from enrollment. Researchers will measure attendance percentage as the primary outcome and assess secondary outcomes including school dropout rates, matriculation, afternoon attendance, and new attendees during the same time frame. Parents or guardians provide consent, and children must be enrolled in participating schools and available for the study duration. This approach ensures detailed monitoring of the impact of school meals on child nutrition and education in a rural Ghanaian setting.

Peanut-based School Meals in Rural Ghana to Improve Attendance and Retention