Trial reportThe Lancet. Global health2019
The effect of the Alive & Thrive initiative on exclusive breastfeeding in rural Burkina Faso: a repeated cross-sectional cluster randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in The Lancet. Global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02435524 (Alive & Thrive Evaluation in Burkina Faso), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Alive & Thrive Evaluation in Burkina Faso
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Supporting Adolescent Mothers to Make Infant Feeding Decisions: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Prenatal Breastfeeding Education on Breastfeeding Duration Beyond 12 Weeks: A Systematic Review.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2024Pooled it
- Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Maternal and child health intervention to promote behaviour change: a population-level cluster-randomised controlled trial in Honduras.BMJ open · 2024Trial
- The impact of a package of behaviour change interventions on breastfeeding practices in East Java Province, Indonesia.Maternal & child nutrition · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Changing maternal, infant and young child nutrition practices through social and behaviour change interventions implemented at scale: Lessons learned from Alive & Thrive.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Article
- Inequalities in large-scale breastfeeding programmes in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso and Vietnam.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- An equitable, community-engaged translational framework for science in human lactation and infant feeding-a report from "Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN)" Working Group 5.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Article
- Health facility users' knowledge, perceptions, and practices about infant feeding in the context of option B+ in South Africa: a qualitative study.International breastfeeding journal · 2022Article
- Article
- Exclusive breastfeeding: Measurement to match the global recommendation.Maternal & child nutrition · 2022Article
- Breastfeeding Interpersonal Communication, Mobile Phone Support, and Mass Media Messaging Increase Exclusive Breastfeeding at 6 and 24 Weeks Among Clients of Private Health Facilities in Lagos, Nigeria.The Journal of nutrition · 2022Article
- Epidemiology of Underweight among Infants in Rural Burkina Faso.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2021Article
- Community perspectives on maternal and child health during nutrition and economic transition in sub-Saharan Africa.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Engaging family members in maternal, infant and young child nutrition activities in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic scoping review.Maternal & child nutrition · 2021Article
- Psychosocial barriers and enablers of exclusive breastfeeding: lived experiences of mothers in low-income townships, North West Province, South Africa.International breastfeeding journal · 2020Article
- Exclusive breastfeeding village program increased the role of health cadres.Journal of public health research · 2020Article
- Breastfeeding advice for reality: Women's perspectives on primary care support in South Africa.Maternal & child nutrition · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe benefits of exclusive breastfeeding on mortality, health, and development of children have been well documented. In Burkina Faso, the Alive & Thrive initiative combined interpersonal communication and community mobilisation activities with the aim of improving knowledge, beliefs, skills, and, ultimately, breastfeeding outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the Alive & Thrive initiative on exclusive breastfeeding in Boucle du Mouhoun, Burkina Faso.
methodsWe did a cluster-randomised trial with data collected with two independent, population-representative, cross-sectional surveys: a baseline survey done before the start of the initiative implementation and an endline survey done 2 years later. Rural villages in Boucle du Mouhoun, Burkina Faso, were randomly allocated by use of computer generated pseudo-random numbers, and women were eligible for participation if they had a livebirth in the 12 months preceding the survey and resided in a village selected for the study. The primary outcome was exclusive breastfeeding among infants younger than 6 months. Masking was not possible for the intervention implementation. All women who participated in the trial were included in the analysis population. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02435524.
findingsBetween June 2 and July 28, 2015, 2288 mothers participated in the baseline survey and between June 12 and July 25, 2017, 2253 mothers participated in the endline survey. At endline, there was a risk difference of 38·9% (95% CI 32·2-45·6, p<0·001) between the reported prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in the intervention group and that of the control group.
interpretationA multidimensional intervention deliverable at scale in a low-income setting resulted in substantial increases in mothers' optimal breastfeeding knowledge and beliefs and in reported exclusive breastfeeding practices. However, it is possible that the findings might have been influenced by social desirability bias.
fundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.