Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of study children

		n or Mean ± SD	Proportion (%)
District (N = 720)	Bombali	288	40.0
	Port Loko	264	36.7
	Tonkolili	168	23.3
Locality (N = 720)	Rural	540	75.0
	Urban	180	25.0
Child’s age in months (N = 720)		16.68 ± 4.41	-
Child’s sex (N = 720)	Female	363	50.4
	Male	357	49.6
Caretaker’s age in years 1 (N = 718)		32.4 ± 12.5	-
Caretaker’s sex 1 (N = 717)	Female	624	87.0
	Male	93	13.0
Caretaker’s relationship with the child (N = 720)	Mother	556	77.6
	Father	70	9.8
	Grandparent	71	9.9
	Aunt or Uncle	19	2.7
	Other	1	1.4
Caretaker’s highest level of education 1 (N = 718)	Never attended school	395	55.0
	Primary	78	10.9
	JSS (Middle School)	103	14.4
	SSS (High School)	106	14.8
	Tertiary	36	5.0
Caretaker’s main type of income 1 (N = 717)	No salary	79	11.0
	Self-employment	611	85.2
	Paid employment	27	3.8
Is the caretaker able to read and write? (N = 720)	Fully literate	96	13.3
	Partially literate	105	14.6
	Illiterate	519	72.1
Caretaker’s marital status 1 (N = 715)	Married or in union	578	80.8
	Single (never married)	82	11.5
	Separated or divorced	24	3.4
	Widowed	31	4.3
Caretaker’s religion 2 (N = 720)	Muslim	508	70.6
	Christian	210	29.2
	None	2	0.3
Caretaker’s ethnic group (N = 720)	Temne	449	62.6
	Limba	120	16.7
	Soso	17	2.4
	Fula	11	1.5
	Mende	11	1.5
	Loko	73	10.1
	Madingo	14	1.9
	Krio	2	0.3
	Sherbro	2	0.3
	Bullom	1	0.1
	Other	20	2.8
Is the caretaker the household head? (N = 720)	Yes	365	50.7
	No	355	49.3
Household head’s sex 1 (N = 719)	Female	392	54.5
	Male	327	45.5

¹ Missing values: caretaker’s age = 2; caretaker’s sex = 3; caretaker’s highest level of education = 2; caretaker’s main type of income = 3; caretaker’s marital status = 5, household head’s sex = 1

² Other religion 0/720