Agricultural livelihood support for pregnant women and newborns in Kenya
Official title: Randomized controlled trial of an agricultural livelihood intervention to improve maternal and newborn health and nutrition in Kenya
Funded at University of California, San Francisco · NIH-11469757 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Compares agricultural livelihood support to usual care to help pregnant women in Kenya—including those living with HIV—have better nutrition and healthier newborns.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Francisco NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | January 17, 2025 |
| Project end | December 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $296,135 |
| NIH project number | 3R01HD116651-02S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11469757 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are pregnant women in early pregnancy living in the rural Kenyan study areas, including those with HIV who rely on small-scale farming.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not pregnant, live outside the study region, or do not rely on agriculture are unlikely to receive direct benefits from participating.
What this research studies
If you join, you would be enrolled early in pregnancy and randomly assigned to receive agricultural livelihood support or the usual local care. The program provides farming-related help aimed at increasing food and income while accounting for pregnancy-related needs. Researchers will follow you and your baby to track birth outcomes, breastfeeding, maternal nutrition, and infant growth. The team will also ask about practical challenges to using farming support during pregnancy to improve how the program could work in real life.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could increase food security and income for pregnant women and lead to healthier pregnancies and better newborn growth, including for women living with HIV.
How similar studies have gone: Previous agricultural livelihood programs have improved food security and household nutrition in some settings, but their effects when started during pregnancy remain largely untested.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Cohen, Craig R — University of California, San Francisco
- Study coordinator: Cohen, Craig R
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Agricultural livelihoods to improve health for pregnant women with HIV in Kenya
A pregnancy-starting program in Kenya tests whether helping families grow food and earn income can improve the health and nutrition of mothers and their babies, especially for women living with HIV.
-
Farming support for pregnant women in rural Kenya to improve mother and newborn nutrition
This project offers farming support to pregnant women in rural Kenya to try to improve mothers' nutrition and newborns' health.
-
Improving maternal and newborn health through agricultural support in Kenya
This study is looking at how helping pregnant women with HIV in Kenya improve their farming can lead to better health and nutrition for both them and their babies, especially by tackling food shortages during pregnancy.
-
Cognitive behavioral therapy and trazodone for insomnia phenotypes with high blood pressure
A clinical study tests how CBT-I and the sleep drug trazodone work for adults with insomnia and high blood pressure, focusing on a specific sleep duration pattern.
-
Adaptive e-learning and smartphones to improve newborn and child care in Tanzania
A new program uses smart devices and tailored online learning to help frontline health workers in Mwanza, Tanzania provide better care for newborns and young children.
-
NoviGuide for Newborn Care in Pakistan
A small NIH grant to test a pocket-sized decision support tool for nurses and doctors to improve newborn care in Pakistan.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.