Table 2. Baseline characteristics.

Child characteristics	Control N = 451	Intervention N = 419
Gender
Male	226 (50.1%)	214 (51.1%)
Female	225 (49.9%)	205 (48.9%)
Age (months)	11.1 ± 4.2	11.3 ± 4.1
Malnutrition status
Stunting (LAZ < -2SD)	208 (47.8%)	183 (44.1%)
Wasting (WLZ < -2SD)	106 (23.8%)	85 (20.4%)
Underweight (WAZ < -2SD)	221 (50.9%)	167 (40.1%)
Hemoglobin level
Normal (≥11gm/dl)	50 (11.1%)	50 (12.0%)
Anaemia (<11gm/dl)	400 (88.9%)	367 (88.0%)
Moderate Anaemia (≥7 & <11 gm/dl)	360 (80.0%)	337 (80.8%)
Severe Anaemia (<7gm/dl)	40 (8.9%)	30 (7.2%)
Household characteristics
Improved water	396 (87.8%)	363 (86.6%)
Food Consumption Score (FSC)
Poor (1–28)	3 (0.7%)	4 (1.0%)
Borderline (28.1–42)	2 (0.4%)	5 (1.2%)
Acceptable (>42)	446 (98.9%)	410 (97.9%)
Household Hunger Scale (HHS)
None or light hunger (0–1 score)	375 (83.1%)	367 (87.6%)
Moderate hunger (2–3 scores)	72 (16.0%)	49 (11.7%)
Severe hunger (4–6 scores)	4 (0.9%)	3 (0.7%)