The Impact of Nutrition Education on Pregnant Women with Energy Deficiency in the African Region : A Scoping Review

Background : Malnutrition during pregnancy remais a major public health problem in Africa, affecting about 23.5% of pregnant women, particulary those in rural areas. To address this problem, a comprehensive strategy is needed, including increasing access to nutritious food, improving health services, providing education on maternal nutrition, and implementing targeted interventions to improve maternal nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa and globally.

Objective: This scoping review aims to explore the impact of maternal nutrition education interventions on pregnant women’s nutritional status and neonatal outcomes in Africa.

Study Design : A scoping review based on the Arskey and O’Malley framework, including articles published from 2014-2024.

Methods : This study was conducted in September 2024 and reviewed literature from three database (PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect) using the following keywords : ‘nutrition education’, ‘pregnant women’, ‘nutrition intervention’, ‘malnutrition’, and ‘chronic energy deficiency’. A total of 1,502 articles were initially identified. After applying PRISMA ScR filtering, 8 articles were selected based on relevance to the topic. Key outcomes included changes in food consumption behavior, MUAC, and infant bitrh weight.

Results: Five of the eight studies reported significant imprevements in dietary diversity after nutrition education interventions. Four studies found an increase in MUAC renging from 0.36-0.59 cm, and three studies reported higher average infant birth weights in intervention groups compared to controls.

Conclusion: Nutrition education interventions positively influence maternal dietary diversity, MUAC, and infant birth weight in Arican countries. Interventions involving spouses showed greater improvements in maternal outcomes, emphasizing the value of social support in maternal nutrition programs.