Food contamination is a major cause of childhood diarrhoea in low-income areas, especially during the weaning period.

Weaning food is a portion of food given to children as complementary foods to breast milk starting at six months and gradually increasing to 24 months. The majority of hygiene or child nutrition programs do not adequately address the safety and hygiene of supplemental foods. Weaning foods are typically produced from common household items such as a combination of cereals and legumes etc. Nevertheless, the potential hazards of weaning food include microbiological contamination due to poor food hygiene behaviour among mothers. The mouth is the typical portal of entry for gastrointestinal pathogens, which are ingested alongside contaminated food and water and cause damage to the gut.

Therefore, a food hygiene intervention package is designed, implemented to promote safe food hygiene behaviour, and aimed at reducing microbiological contamination before serving to children. Interventions of this weaning food hygiene could prevent diarrhoeal disease among children, which has a high burden in low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, in resource-poor settings, with high population density, such low-cost interventions can make a substantial difference in the transmission of communicable diseases or even enable proper mobilisation of healthcare professionals, nutrition experts, appropriate materials, and governance to improve water sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) situations.

This study is conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh and is split into three phases: formative research, designing the intervention package, and a feasibility trial to examine weaning hygiene habits and contextual interventions to support mothers in preventing food borne illnesses among their children.