Shifting Dietary Behaviours: Expanding School-Based Campaigns

In just three months, the campaign significantly improved the diets of Cambodian schoolchildren. Children increased their vegetable consumption by 11.2 percent compared to non-intervention schools. Similarly, children in intervention schools reduced unhealthy snack and drink intake by 10.7 percent compared to children in control schools. These results were statistically significant, at 5 percent and 1 percent respectively. Although there was a positive trend in egg consumption, this was not statistically significant.
At a cost of only US$226 per school per year to run the intervention, the programme demonstrates that school-based Social and Behaviour Change campaigns can deliver rapid, cost-effective improvements in dietary quality. Further follow-up can better assess both the sustainability and the impacts of the intervention in other areas in Cambodia.