Maternal under nutrition has a critical role in etiology of poor perinatal outcomes like low birth weight (LBW), accounting for 60-80% of all neonatal deaths and impacting nearly 20 million newborns overall. In Pakistan, nearly half of the households are food insecure with or without hunger. Great disparities exist between urban-rural and within urban disadvantaged populations living in the poorest of slums. In Sindh province alone, 72% of households are food insecure and 50% are with moderate to severe hunger. Around 18% of the married woman of reproductive age in Pakistan, are underweight and deficient of different micronutrients for example, 42% and 41% of women are Vitamin A and Zinc deficient, respectively.. This impacts childhood stunting, wasting, and underweight, prevalence of which, among under-five children is around 44%, 15% and 31%, respectively in Pakistan. WHO antenatal care (ANC) guidelines recommend the use of fortified balanced energy-protein supplements during pregnancy, but there is a lack of guidance on the best product/supplement for use in a particular setting. Until recently, the WHO ANC guidelines has made no recommendations on the use of these supplements in food insecure and undernourished settings. This is an area that required further research. Additionally, there is emerging literature on use of Choline and Nicotinamide during pregnancy and its potential additional impact on birth outcomes including growth and development after prenatal supplementation with Choline and Nicotinamide.
Apart from nutrition supplement, the prophylaxis use of antibiotics, especially AZM is also under strong debate, as many studies have shown improvements in birth outcomes in low middle income settings. The possible mechanism of AZM may be explained through reduction in the risk of maternal infections during pregnancy. A systematic review showed that prophylaxis may reduce the risk of postpartum endometritis, preterm rupture of membranes and gonococcal infection when given routinely to all pregnant women With no effect on birth outcome but there were several biases reported such as high loss to follow-ups and limited numbers of included studies.. Therefore, robust evidence is needed via a field trial in the local context to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of the locally-produced, balanced energy-protein supplement alone or in combination with prophylaxis dose of AZM or balanced energy-protein supplement alone or in combination with Choline and Nicotinamide to pregnant woman on maternal and birth outcomes in low-income and food insecure settings. This could help to draw inferences for larger public health policy-making. This investment is specifically aiming to look at what impact a newly formulated nutritional supplement for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) can have on improving birth outcomes and as well as its potential to reduce wasting, stunting and underweight in infants.
