Nutrition education improves households’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards consuming indigenous green leafy vegetables and legumes in Accra, Ghana

We quantify the effect of nutrition education on knowledge and behaviour of households towards the consumption of green leafy vegetables and legumes among households in the Greater Accra metropolis. Anaemia persists among households in Accra, particularly among women and children. About 51 % of pregnant women were anaemic and 40 % of these anaemic women were iron deficient. Low consumption of indigenous leafy greens and legumes among urban poor communities is hindered by inadequate knowledge, attitude, and practice. A longitudinal study using a quasi-experimental design (pretest-posttest control group) was conducted in the Accra Metropolitan Area. A total of 120 households in two communities were involved in the study. The intervention households (60 parent-child pairs) were given six-month nutrition education, while the control households (60 parent-child pairs) received no nutrition education. The study setting was the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. Baseline haemoglobin levels were measured among the intervention households using a Haemocue device (URIT-12 haemoglobin meter) following standard practice before the implementation of the intervention. Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) data were collected and analysed quantitatively using repeated ANOVA and Chi-Square tests. No significant differences were found between the intervention and the control group at baseline for KAP ( p = 0.92, 0.07, 0.23). However, KAP substantially improved among the intervention group compared to the control group at the end line ( p = 0.00, 0.03, 0.03). Similarly, good knowledge increased from 55 % (baseline) to 100 % (end line) among the intervention group, while a decrease in good knowledge was observed in the control group from 56 % baseline to 20 % at the end line. Good attitude and practice showed similar trends. Prevalence of anaemia at baseline was 62 % and 57 % among women and children respectively. Nutrition education improved households’ knowledge, attitude, and practice toward the consumption of green leafy vegetables and legumes. These findings have implications for sustainable development goals two and three and for health promotion in Ghana.