Given Hapunda

219 of the three groups was observed. Similar findings were observed in communities in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic where IDA was reported (Kounnavong et al ., 2011). Impact of the intervention Anthropometric results The prevalence of stunting improved in all the three the study groups after the intervention. The same trend was observed for underweight. However, the prevalence of wasting increased in both experimental groups after the intervention but decreased in the control group. This finding contradicts the intervention goals, as both experimental groups received a sorghum-based meal daily, in contrast with the control group, which received no complimentary meal. Wasting is indicative of acute food shortage and it was expected that wasting would thus improve in the experimental groups. However, this was not the case in this study. This finding is consistent with results from Nigeria, in which the acute malnutrition remained high despite the provision of a supplementary therapeutic food. Overweight and obesity decreased in the experimental groups, but increased in the control group. The MUAC and WHO growth standards as determined in this study did not give consistent results, as the MUAC results did not indicate the prevalence of severe malnutrition in any of the three study groups at baseline and follow-up, despite the high prevalence of stunting in Evaton West and Soshanguve as determined by the WHO growth standards. Biochemical results Prevalence of IDA observed in all three study groups was lower than the national prevalence rate of 25% (Labadarios et al., 2008). IDA is one of the most prevalent nutritional deficiencies in infants and children globally (Brito et al ., 2013). In Chile, it was found that consumption of iron-fortified food items resulted in a lower prevalence of IDA in children (Brito et al., 2013). In SA, maize meal has been fortified with iron since 2004 and this may have contributed to the lower prevalence of IDA in the children in this study. The main cause of IDA is usually a Focus Box 3: Key Evaluation Findings It can be concluded that the peri-urban areas (both experimental groups) presented with more malnourished children than the urban area (control group) in this study as a result of both chronic and acute food shortages. Under-nutrition was observed in large percentages of the children in the experimental groups compared with much lower prevalence rates in the control group. On the other hand, overweight and obesity were observed also in the experimental groups. It has been found that childhood under- and over-nutrition can co-exist, leading to a double burden of malnutrition (UNICEF, 2007), as observed in the experimental groups at baseline.