Ze Lekol Project

Location: Cap Haitien, Haiti

Collaborators: Washington University in St. Louis, Brown School

Description: School-aged children represent a neglected population in global efforts to improve child nutrition. In Haiti, studies of school-aged children have revealed stunting rates as high as 49%, with anemia as high as 73%. Haiti’s school feeding programs emphasize providing calories, offering items such as rice, beans, or maize. While useful for meeting energy needs, these carbohydrate-rich food items lack key nutrients necessary for proper growth and brain development.

Eggs are a rich and highly bioavailable source of several critical nutrients lacking in the diets of low-resource populations. Eggs have been shown to positively impact child growth and biomarkers of nutrients associated with brain development. While there is consensus around their importance, eggs are underutilized within school feeding programs globally. The Ze Lekol Project is using mixed methods to explore contextual factors that may influence the potential to include local eggs in school feeding programs in Cap Haitien, Haiti.

Sponsor: Center for Dissemination and Implementation, Institute for Public Health