Cost analysis of nutrition messaging intervention through community-led videos in Odisha

Abstract

This study evaluates the cost benefit of implementing a maternal and child health pilot intervention led by a community-based organization using localized videos. The staff of a community-based organization and its village-level workers were trained on producing and screening short 8--12 minute videos on recommended health and nutrition behaviors among rural communities in Keonjhar district of Odisha, India by the USAID-funded Strengthening Partnerships Results and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) project and Digital Green. The community organization was trained by SPRING and Digital Green on key nutrition behaviors that can prevent under nutrition, especially during the first 1,000 days between a woman's pregnancy and her child's second birthday. The study highlights the potential of the recurrent activities of the intervention to be sustained by the community-based organization at low cost. The specific measure of cost-benefit analysis used in this study is cost-effectiveness. The methodology for cost data collection uses ingredient costing and a variation of activity-based costing. Effectiveness is measured in terms of knowledge retention of the disseminated messages. The analysis found that the unit cost of this intervention was $2.47 (95% CI 2.38--2.56) per successful retention of a disseminated message and suggests lessons on applying cost-effectiveness methodologies for information and communication technologies for development projects.