The Nepal Nutrition Intervention Project Sarlahi (NNIPS) has been an established population-based field site of the Bloomberg School of Public Health for the past 26 years. The site has hosted seminal community randomized trials. For example, one of the first placebo controlled trials of vitamin A supplementation showed a survival impact that launched vitamin A as a child survival tool worldwide. It was also the site of trials showing a survival effect of chlorhexidine for umbilical cord care that is now a WHO recommendation. We have hosted numerous masters and doctoral students working on a variety of projects. Students interning at our project site in the past have been able to choose from a number of projects and also gain experience generally in the design and conduct of community trials in low resource settings. There are currently several ongoing projects and the student can select one or more projects in which to engage. The largest project is a community randomized trial to examine the impact of mustard seed versus sunflower seed oil massage of newborns on neonatal mortality. Other projects include a study of the association between oral health and preterm birth, quality of antenatal and postnatal care, and validation of postnatal care seeking coverage measures.

Global Health Mentor/PI: Joanne Katz, ScD