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Research, Policy and Practice

Table 2 Triangulation of monthly calendar results and assessment of technical plausibility

From: Using participatory epidemiology to investigate women’s knowledge on the seasonality and causes of acute malnutrition in Karamoja, Uganda

Indicator

Triangulation

Rainfall

Comparison with objective rainfall data (Fig. 6) and literature (Chaplin et al. 2017) shows strong agreement

Monthly calendar results were highly plausible

Availability of cow milk

Animal production literature explains how cow milk production in African pastoralist systems follows rainfallpatterns and availability of pasture (Jahnke 1982). Monthly calendar results were highly plausible

Availability of goat milk

Animal production literature explains how goat milk production in African pastoralist systems follows rainfall patterns, breeding management and availability of browse (Devandra and McLeroy 1982). Monthly calendar results were highly plausible

Availability of own-produced sorghum

Agriculture literature explains the seasonality of the rain-fed crop production, including sorghum production in dryland areas of Africa and specifically in Karamoja (Robinson and Zappacosta 2014). Constraints to sorghum production in Karamoja explain low production (Cullis 2018). Monthly calendar results were highly plausible

Women’s work in own gardens

Monthly calendar results highly plausible if compared to the pattern of sorghum production (see above) and related tasks; women carry out most of the work in gardens in Karamoja (Cullis 2018)

Women’s other work

Monthly calendar results highly plausible if monthly patterns of staple, own-produced foods are valid (see above) Women’s labour in Karamoja has been described in detail (Iyer and Mosebo 2017)

Child acute malnutrition

Limited monthly data available for triangulation. Monthly patterns in child AM highly plausible if patterns of food availability, women’s workload and birth patterns are used to explain AM

Child malaria

Limited monthly health data available for triangulation Vector populations expected to increase during wet seasons with related peaks in disease incidence (Selvaraj et al. 2018)

Monthly calendar results highly plausible

Child diarrhoea

Limited monthly health data available for triangulation

Diarrhoea caused by bacteria and Cryptosporidium had a higher prevalence in rainy/summer months in the tropics compared to dry/summer months; rotavirus prevalence was higher in drier months (Chao et al. 2019). Households had limited access to clean water or sanitation in study areas

Monthly calendar results are plausible if the main infectious causes of diarrhoea in the study areas are bacteria and Cryptosporidium

Human births

Limited monthly health data available for triangulation

Marked seasonality of births reported in neighbouring pastoralist area of Kenya, with the same pattern as study sites (Leslie and Fry 1989)