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CTRI Number  CTRI/2025/10/095752 [Registered on: 08/10/2025] Trial Registered Prospectively
Last Modified On: 07/10/2025
Post Graduate Thesis  No 
Type of Trial  Interventional 
Type of Study   Other (Specify) [Quasi experimental field trial]  
Study Design  Other 
Public Title of Study   Nutri-Gardens to enrich institutional meals to diversify diets in Children. 
Scientific Title of Study   Evaluation of a multi-component intervention consisting of diversified Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children with environmental co-benefits. 
Trial Acronym  The Village bAsed nuTri garden and nutrItion Knowledge and Awareness for diversified diets in children (VATIKA) Trial  
Secondary IDs if Any  
Secondary ID  Identifier 
NIL  NIL 
 
Details of Principal Investigator or overall Trial Coordinator (multi-center study)  
Name  Professor Vivekanand Jha 
Designation  Executive Director 
Affiliation  The George Institute for Global Health, India 
Address  The George Institute for Global Health, India 308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi

New Delhi
DELHI
110025
India 
Phone  8527544733  
Fax    
Email  vjha@georgeinstitute.org.in  
 
Details of Contact Person
Scientific Query
 
Name  Dr Suparna Ghosh Jerath 
Designation  Head Nutrition 
Affiliation  The George Institute for Global Health, India 
Address  The George Institute for Global Health, India 308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi

New Delhi
DELHI
110025
India 
Phone  9711311910  
Fax    
Email  sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in   
 
Details of Contact Person
Public Query
 
Name  Dr Suparna Ghosh Jerath 
Designation  Head Nutrition 
Affiliation  The George Institute for Global Health, India 
Address  The George Institute for Global Health, India 308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi

New Delhi
DELHI
110025
India 
Phone  9711311910  
Fax    
Email  sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in   
 
Source of Monetary or Material Support  
The George Institute for Global Health India 
 
Primary Sponsor  
Name  The George Institute for Global Health, India 
Address  The George Institute for Global Health, India 308, Third Floor, Elegance Tower, Plot No. 8, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi 
Type of Sponsor  Research institution 
 
Details of Secondary Sponsor  
Name  Address 
NIL  NIL 
 
Countries of Recruitment     India  
Sites of Study  
No of Sites = 1  
Name of Principal Investigator  Name of Site  Site Address  Phone/Fax/Email 
Dr Suparna Ghosh Jerath  The George Institute for Global Health, India  221, Bhagwanpur khurd, Near Vriddha ashram, railway station road, Ambikapur, Sarguja district, Chhattisgarh, 497001
Surguja
CHHATTISGARH 
09711311910

sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in 
 
Details of Ethics Committee  
No of Ethics Committees= 3  
Name of Committee  Approval Status 
Institutional Ethics Committee, The George Institute for Global Health, India.   Approved 
NOC  No Objection Certificate 
NOC  No Objection Certificate 
 
Regulatory Clearance Status from DCGI  
Status 
Not Applicable 
 
Health Condition / Problems Studied  
Health Type  Condition 
Healthy Human Volunteers  Healthy individuals 
 
Intervention / Comparator Agent  
Type  Name  Details 
Comparator Agent  Evaluation of a multi-component intervention consisting of diversified Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children with environmental co-benefits. Acronym: VATIKA (Village bAsed nuTri garden and nutrItion Knowledge and Awareness for diversified diets in children)  In control arm, Primary schools and AWCs who do not receive the intervention and are availing the routine institutional feeding program run by the government. 
Intervention  Evaluation of a multi-component intervention consisting of diversified Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children with environmental co-benefits. Acronym: VATIKA (Village bAsed nuTri garden and nutrItion Knowledge and Awareness for diversified diets in children)  The various components of the intervention package include: 1. Establishment and management of community-managed nutri-gardens to support the supply of fresh vegetables to schools and Anganwadi centres in specific areas across 2 blocks of Surguja district 2. Developing and implementing revised, diversified, seasonal cyclic menus for Schools and AWC utilizing culturally acceptable, local recipes using local produce. 3. Capacity building and enabling the schoolteachers, cooks and Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi helpers, for managing the local supply chain and bulk preparation of the cyclic menu in the schools and AWCs using sound principles of food preparation for nutrient retention and food safety 4. Enhancing the competency of frontline workers and teachers in providing nutrition education on healthy eating, sustainable diets, and diets for the prevention of NCDs and management of noncommunicable diseases (on a need basis by frontline healthcare workers) to the program beneficiaries and the community in general to enhance healthy eating and dietary diversity at household level. 
 
Inclusion Criteria  
Age From  18.00 Year(s)
Age To  49.00 Year(s)
Gender  Both 
Details  1. Parent and child dyad with parent aged 18 to 49 years and child 7-11 years attending government primary school.
2. Parent and child dyad with parent aged 18 to 49 years and child 3-6 years Anganwadi. 
 
ExclusionCriteria 
Details  1. Pregnant women
2. Child not attending AWC and Government primary schools
3. Child suffering from health condition which limits him/her to eat balanced diet 
 
Method of Generating Random Sequence   Not Applicable 
Method of Concealment   Not Applicable 
Blinding/Masking   Not Applicable 
Primary Outcome  
Outcome  TimePoints 
Enhancement of Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) of Children (3–11 years)  Baseline and endline 
 
Secondary Outcome  
Outcome  TimePoints 
1. Adequacy of nutrient intake (macronutrients such as energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, and micronutrients such as iron, zinc, calcium, retinol, beta-carotene, vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6, total folate (B9), B12, vitamin C) of children will be calculated using EAR cut-point method and full probability approach (for iron). The food intake data will be used to calculate nutrient intakes using the validated software-DietCal (Version 10.0; Profound Tech Solution). This software is based on the nutritive values of foods from the Indian Food Composition Table (IFCT), 2017. The nutrient intakes will then be converted to usual nutrient intakes and the EAR cut-point method will be used to assess the nutrient inadequacy by comparing individual nutrient intakes to the EAR and determining the proportion of intakes below the cut-off. While the probability approach will relate individual intakes to the distribution of requirements  Baseline and endline 
2. Knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) score of the parents who will be receiving nutrition education from Mitanins and AWW will be assessed during the baseline to endline  Baseline and endline 
3. Dietary diversity score of adults (parents of children attending school/AWC will be measured using the 2 days 24-hour recall method to capture the number of food groups consumed  Baseline and endline 
4. Environmental footprints of the revised menu as well as the standard Govt menu will be assessed using the secondary data on carbon footprints of the food commodities  Endline 
 
Target Sample Size   Total Sample Size="2400"
Sample Size from India="2400" 
Final Enrollment numbers achieved (Total)= "Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials"
Final Enrollment numbers achieved (India)="Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials" 
Phase of Trial   N/A 
Date of First Enrollment (India)   21/10/2025 
Date of Study Completion (India) Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials 
Date of First Enrollment (Global)  Date Missing 
Date of Study Completion (Global) Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials 
Estimated Duration of Trial   Years="1"
Months="6"
Days="0" 
Recruitment Status of Trial (Global)   Not Applicable 
Recruitment Status of Trial (India)  Not Yet Recruiting 
Publication Details   N/A 
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement

Will individual participant data (IPD) be shared publicly (including data dictionaries)?  

Response - YES
  1. What data in particular will be shared?
    Response (Others) -  De-identified individual participant data underlying the trial results will be shared

  2. What additional supporting information will be shared?
    Response -  Study Protocol
    Response -  Statistical Analysis Plan

  3. Who will be able to view these files?
    Response (Others) -  Researchers with a methodologically sound proposal approved by the trial steering committee

  4. For what types of analyses will this data be available?
    Response - To achieve aims in the approved proposal.

  5. By what mechanism will data be made available?
    Response - Proposals should be directed to [sghosh-jerath@georgeinstitute.org.in].

  6. For how long will this data be available start date provided 01-03-2028 and end date provided 28-02-2031?
    Response (Others) -  Data will be available beginning 6 months after publication and up to 3 years thereafter

  7. Any URL or additional information regarding plan/policy for sharing IPD? 
    Additional Information - Data will be shared through secure transfer, and requestors will need to sign a data access agreement.
Brief Summary  

Present study is a part of the NIHR Global Health Research Centre on Non-Communicable Diseases and Environmental Change which focuses on co-developing, implementing and evaluating a Food Systems intervention in selected district of Chhattisgarh, India. In the formative phase of the study, we explored components of Government institutional feeding programs for children, the local food environment at the household level, and dietary diversity among women of reproductive age in selected villages across two blocks of Surguja district, Chhattisgarh. This was followed by collating the study findings of the formative phase along with a proposed basket of interventions. Furthermore, a co-production phase where the basket of interventions was then presented to the program and community level stakeholders at village, block and district levels. Their insights and suggestions were utilised to make necessary modifications and develop a potentially implementable multicomponent intervention package. The package will utilize government institutional feeding program complemented with a supply of vegetables from the community managed nutri-gardens and nutrition education to diversify diets of children in selected villages of two blocks of Surguja district, Chhattisgarh with environmental co-benefits. This intervention package thus developed will be implemented and evaluated using a Quasi experimental field trial. The various components of the intervention package include:

1. Establishment and management of community-managed nutri-gardens to support the supply of fresh vegetables to schools and Anganwadi centres in specific areas across 2 blocks of Surguja district

2. Developing and implementing revised, diversified, seasonal cyclic menus for Schools and AWC utilizing culturally acceptable, local recipes using local produce.

3. Capacity building and enabling the schoolteachers, cooks and Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi helpers, for managing the local supply chain and bulk preparation of the cyclic menu in the schools and AWCs using sound principles of food preparation for nutrient retention and food safety

4. Enhancing the competency of frontline workers and teachers in providing nutrition education on healthy eating, sustainable diets, and diets for the prevention of NCDs and management of noncommunicable diseases (on a need basis by frontline healthcare workers) to the program beneficiaries and the community in general to enhance healthy eating and dietary diversity at household level. 
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