NEON
NURTURE EARLY FOR
OPTIMAL NUTRITION
NEON
Partners
NEON
Funders
Programme
Overview
The first phase (formative research and intervention development in British Bangladeshis) was funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North Thames (£301,693) in partnership with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
The current second phase (pilot feasibility randomised controlled trial and intervention development in all South Asians) is funded by the NIHR Academy (£805,854) in partnership with the Tower Hamlets GP Care Group CIC and the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham.
If successful, a cluster randomised controlled trial will follow in East London with subsequent scale-up across the UK.
A detailed 2-page summary is available here.
Click here for NEON Partners and Funders.
Why is this
Important?
There is increasing recognition of the importance of the first 1000 days of life to child growth and development for the prevention of under and overnutrition, both in childhood as well as in later adult life. Sub-optimal feeding, care, and dental hygiene practices within this period increase the risk of nutrition-related diseases across the life course such as dental caries, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease alongside worse intellectual development.
Research
Methodology
THE PLA APPROACH
The PLA group approach used by the NEON programme has been widely documented as a low-cost, culturally adaptable, and effective method to achieve improvements in maternal and infant survival. It is being reverse innovated to the UK from developing countries for the first time.
PLA groups have been recommended by the World Health Organisation and have demonstrated:
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Reduction in maternal and new-born deaths (49% reduction in maternal mortality and 33% reduction in neonatal mortality)
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The ability to address social determinants of health
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Adaptability to different cultural and country contexts (India, Malawi, Bangladesh, Nepal)
The PLA approach is informed by significant evidence on participatory approaches to community development. It involves forming community groups facilitated by multi-lingual local champions who then follow a four-phase meeting cycle supported via community-led facilitation. The four phases are aimed at enabling participants to identify health problems (PLA - phase 1), identify local solutions to these problems (PLA - phase 2), implement these solutions (PLA - phase 3) and evaluate and reflect on the success of the group (PLA - phase 4).
Associate Professor in Child Health Research
Population Policy and Practice Programme, UCL GOS-ICH
Lecturer in Health Economics and Centre for Global Health Economics Deputy Director
UCL Institute for Global Health
Associate Professor in Child Health Research
Population Policy and Practice Programme, UCL GOS-ICH
Prof. Oyinlola Oyebode
Professor of Public Health, Lead, Centre for Public Health & Policy
QMUL, Wolfson Institute of Population Health Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
Director of Delivery, Compliance, and Transformation
Children's Health 0-19 and HeadStart Service, Newham Council
Samuel Lam
Honorary Research Associate
UCL and Aceso Global Health Consultants (AGHC)
Priyanka Patil
Research Assistant
UCL and Aceso Global Health Consultants (AGHC)
Professor Sensory Science and Eating Behavior l Division of Human Nutrition and Health
Wageningen University
Assist/Prof Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
National University of Singapore.
Subarna Chakraborty
Intern
AGHC
Natasha Chug
Mphil Candidate
Cambridge
Epidemiologist in Community Health, Intervention Development, and Evaluation
Institute for Global Health, Faculty of Pop Health Sciences
Voluntary Sector Children and Youth Forum Coordinator
Volunteer Sector Tower Hamlets (VSTH)
Professor of Global Health, Expert in participatory interventions to improve maternal and neonatal in LMICs
Institute for Global Health UCL
Associate Professor in Education Practice and Society
Education, Practice, and Society; UCL Institute of Education
NIHR Advanced Fellow and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine
Dept. of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL IEHC
Professor of Integrated Community Child Health, and Co-Director of the CHIP Consortium
Population Policy and Practice Programme, UCL GOS-ICH
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
Steering Team
NEON
Team
We are supported by a diverse expert team of Investigators that include:
Where NEON
Currently Operates
Sub-optimal feeding, care, and dental hygiene practices have shown to be particularly prevalent in the UK South Asian population. The London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, and Newham have one of the largest South Asian communities in the country alongside higher than average rates of child poverty and obesity.
Programme
Updates
22 OCT 2021
Recognised for its community-led and co-produced intervention excellence, NEON Programme won the ‘Health at Every Age’ award from the prestigious RSPHAwards
Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON), led by Professor Monica Lakhanpaul and Dr Logan Manikam with Shereen Al Laham, Michelle Heys, Andrew Hayward, Neha Batura, Clare Llewellyn, Rajalakshmi Lakshman, Jennifer Martin, Lorna Benton, Sonia Ahmed, Edward Fortell, Oliver Lloyd-Houldey, Charlotte Lee, Taryn Smith, Georgia Black, Corinne Clarkson, Delceta Daley, Mary Marsh, Amanda Nutkins, Kelley Webb-Martin, Carol Irish, Chanel Edwards and Jenny Gilmour, has been recognised for supporting the development of safe, inclusive environments for mothers and carers to explore the critical health challenges they face.
11 SEP 2020
NEON programme presents Publication at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Online Conference (2020)
The first 1000 days of a child’s life are key to child development. Sub-optimal nutrition before the age of 5 can increase health risks such as obesity and dental problems later in life. The Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition NEON programme is tackling this and will be presenting at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Online Conference 2020 with the poster “Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) Programme: Qualitative study of drivers of infant feeding practices in a British-Bangladeshi population” by Prof. Monica Lakhanpaul, Dr. Lorna Benton, Oliver Lloyd-Houldey, Dr. Logan Manikam, Diana Margot Rosenthal, Shereen Al Laham, Dr. Michelle Heys. See it here
24 NOV 2020
NEON publication and e-poster accepted to the NIHR Academy Members’ Conference (2020)
The recent publication, "Community engagement through the Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) programme to improve infant feeding, care and dental hygiene practices in South Asian infants aged < 2 years in East London" and e-poster produced by the Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) programme team has been accepted to the NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) Academy Members’ Conference 2020. This publication, written by Dr. Logan Manikam, Shereen Al Laham, Dr. Michelle Heys, Dr. Clare Llewellyn, Dr. Neha Batura, Prof. Andrew Hayward, Dr. Rajalakshmi Lakshman, Jenny Gilmour, Kelley Webb-Martin, Carol Irish, Chanel Edwards, Corinne Clarkson, Mary Marsh, Delceta Daley, Amanda Nutkins, Prof. Monica Lakhanpaul, highlights how community engagement can help to develop low-cost interventions to address key public health issues.